


Is it Ever the Right Time? (Scorpius)

by IzzyShep



Series: Malfoy Chronicles [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Awkward Crush, Best Friends, F/M, First Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-24
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-17 01:20:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8125003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IzzyShep/pseuds/IzzyShep
Summary: Scorpius makes a big decision to come out to his very best friend, which prompts a comment that plants a seed.. And the next thing he knows he has a serious crush on his best friend's brother - who just may return his interest. Along the way, Scorpius and Albus test out new relationships, encounter criminal goings on, learn about love and family, and realize how unique they are as people and wizards.NOTE: I marked this teen and up, but there is some more specific description of sexual activity in the later chapters... So, use your own judgement.





	1. The Wind-Up

Scorpius looked up at the curtains hanging over his four-poster and knew why it was that those time turners were so damn dangerous. Time just kept ticking along, pushing you places you didn’t really want to go. There were definitely moments, more than moments, when he wished he could just slow things down or stop them all together.

Everything was such a blur after he and Albus nearly screwed over the entire world (and what was that for, Cedric Diggory? Really?), that he felt like he was constantly losing time. It was all he could do to keep up with his studies and try to quiet all the noise in his head telling him that he needed to get his life in order. He felt like he was being hounded by the calendar, that with each passing day he was losing his opportunities to set things on track.

So, like an idiot, he did opposite of what made sense. He pursued Rose Weasley-Granger like some kind of crazed kneazle stalking a bird. He was everywhere. He was driving her insane. Truly, he was pretty sure he had seen her taking evasive maneuvers, and she had definitely taken to cutting back on her library time, which was saying something. When she finally relented and agreed to go on a date, he was pretty sure it was because whatever happened it couldn’t be worse than what he had been forcing her to endure.

Not so surprisingly, it was a complete and total dud. Once she said yes he realized that (a) he’d actually have to go out on a date with her, (b) he didn’t really want to go out on a date with her, and (c) he’d now have to come up with some other brain addled way of avoiding the talk he was going to have to have with his best friend.

And… Even though he was pretty sure it’d be okay, because Albus had an uncle everyone was pretty sure was gay, and his older brother Jamie was – what would you even call that? – sexually omnivorous… Really - the guy would probably literally shag anything that had a face… Scorp still wasn’t sure what Albus would make of having a best friend who was hot for guys. They were really close, they hugged, and they spent pretty much all their time together. And, even though he didn’t really think about Albus that way, he was literally petrified when he thought of the idea of not being able to have his same very best friend.

Albus was the only other true person Scorpius had in his life other than his dad – which was kind of pathetic, he guessed, but wouldn’t be a problem except for the gay thing. Which might or might not be a problem really… But what if it was? It just never ended. He really wished things would just slow down.

\---

It was getting closer and closer to the summer break, and he still hadn’t figured out how to work things into conversation. He’d run lines in his head that went something like this.

_“Hey, Albus, how’d you do on your Transfig. essay? Great, oh, by the way, I’m gay. And, don’t worry, I’m not hot for you… Not that you’re not totally awesome, but…. “_

Okay – not that. Maybe,

 _“Hurry up, we’re going to be late for Potions, and I don’t want to get stuck with a crappy cauldron today… Also, I’m gay.”_ Upside, the last part rhymed... Downside, that was ridiculous.

Anyway, he had to get it done because he was going to be going on holiday with the whole Potter-Weasley clan over the break and he wanted to get it done before. Just in case. He wasn’t really sure “just in case” of what, but he knew he didn’t want Albus to find out from anyone else. He definitely didn’t want any misunderstandings.

So, this week. This week he was going to just do it. _Fucking time._

Tuesday he almost said something on their way back from Divination. He was thinking he could come up with some kind of conversation that started with – “Hey, speaking of the future..” But that just was shit. So, that didn’t happen.

On Wednesday he was going to say something at dinner, but then they were served Toad in the Hole. He sure as hell wasn’t going there.

Thursday night they were in the library studying potions, just the two of them. Good environment. Scorp felt comfortable. And, good subject. Scorp felt confident. Good. This was good. This was good. He just kept telling himself that “It’s good. This is good. It’s good.” Then finally,

“Albus, do you have have a minute? There’s something I wanted to bring up.”

Albus was scratching away at his papers, and didn’t even look up “Sure, what’s up?”

“Albus, I need your attention. Really.”

“Okay, okay” he marked his spot and looked up. “What is it? Still working out your sleeping situation for the camping trip? I told you, a sleeping bag will be just fine. We’ve got you covered for everything else.”

Then he was looking at the top of Albus’ head again. Well, here it goes anyway…

“No, it’s not that. It’s… Al,… I like guys…. I’m into guys… I’m gay.” It was kind of a feeling of: _if I just keep saying something, he won’t have a chance to react badly, so I’ll just keep saying some version of that, over and over again._

“Oh” … “Yeah” Albus looked back down at his notes.

 _Um. Okay._ Scorpius expected a little more than that. He’d just shared a pretty damn significant piece of personal information with his very best friend and the reaction was “yeah”?

“Uh. Well, are you okay with that?” Scorpius was looking for something more from this, and he knew that there was at least a little more ground to cover here.

“Well, sure, I guess…. I think I’m not really surprised, that’s all… I mean, you’re my best friend… I kind of knew, I guess.” Albus looked at Scorpius as if he was trying to puzzle something out. “It’s pretty much the same as before, I guess, unless you’re hot for me. Or, unless you screw my brother.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m not hot for you…. Not that you’re not awesome… Okay that’s weird… I just don’t really think about you that way. You’re Albus, you’re my best friend. Not that.”

Albus shrugged and then “So, I guess no more tormenting Rose then?”

“Nope – that was done as soon as she agreed to go out with me. Thank Merlin she’s smart and figured out a way to end all of that.”

“No shit. Holiday will be significantly more fun without you trolling around the campground after her for the entire fortnight”

Albus gave his friend a mocking look, but it whizzed right by him.

“I know! We’re bringing our telescopes and have some astronomy studies planned. There’s going to be a meteor shower visible while we’re there.” Scorpius lit up like his little dorky self, and Albus smiled, _yup, that was his best friend. Right there._

  
\-----

That night Scorpius and Albus climbed into their side by side bunks and said their good nights, just like every other night in the Slytherin dorm. Scorpius listened for the gentle sound of the giant squid that echoed and made their house sound like a listing ship. It had lulled him to sleep every night since he and Albus first met.

He looked up at the canopy and thought about how lucky he was. He had a very best friend with whom he was going on holiday to the beach camping for two weeks. He was going to look at stars and meteorites with his thankfully-not-girlfriend, Rose.

But, what the hell was that about Jamie? Really? Then he thought again, and damn. _Just. Fuck._


	2. Summer Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holidays with the Potters mean camping at the beach and plenty of time for Scorpius to not indulge his serious crush on his very best friend's brother (if only). And, Scorp's left wondering if he's not the only one...

The day before the family camping holiday, owls were flying in and out of the Potter, Malfoy and Weasley housholds.  Albus and Scorpius, of course, had their contributions.

 

_Albus,_

_Dad wants me to double check on the packing list to make sure we’ve got everything. Also, I told him. It was awkward, even though he’s basically fine, but then it was super awkward. It was so bad I can’t even write it down on this paper. I’ll tell you everything tomorrow because I am not living with this alone!_

_S._

  
_Scorpius,_

_I’m sure you’ve got everything you need. Just remember some muggle money because we’ll want to go to the shops for ice cream or crisps. And, I can show you the betting parlor. You can place bets on pretty much anything, not that I know much about football, but it’s cool. Jamie showed me. Anyway, just don’t forget the money._

_Come on up when you get here. Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad, can it? Scratch that, it is your dad you’re talking about. He’s awkward on a good day._

_A._

  
The next morning Draco and Scorpius arrived by floo. After a quick “Hello, Potters!” and leaving his Dad to sort out some details with Harry and Ginny, Scorpius bolted upstairs and down the hall, arriving in Albus’ room doubled over and panting a bit.

“Wow, Scorp. You okay?” Albus was still jamming clothing into duffle bags.

After just barely catching his breath, Scorpius exploded, “So – I can not possibly hold this in any longer. Remember how I told you that the conversation was extremely awkward?”

“Sure.” Albus tossed aside a winter scarf deciding he was probably not going to need that.

“Well, it turns out that my dad was pretty cool with the whole gay thing. He was mostly just worried about the family and my grandmother. The part that was unbelievable… that I’m not even sure I can say out loud now is… He’s been with men, too.”

Albus turned to look at his friend, and Scorpius raised his hand to say ‘but wait, that’s not the worst part.’ while he continued to catch his breath.

“And I’m pretty sure, even though he didn’t really say it directly – that he’s been with someone we know.”

“ **NO. WAY.** ” Albus was clearly now thinking about Scorpius’ uptight, probably-wore-his-bathrobe-to-bed, dad, who looked slightly uncomfortable hugging his own son, and how it could be remotely possible for that same man to have had… Then he needed to stop picturing things.

“Who do you think it is?”

“Hell, I don’t know, and I don’t even know if I want to think about it because, Merlin, it’s my DAD…. **MERLIN’S HAIRY ASS!** Why’d he even tell me that? He could easily have gone with the whole “I love you, I support you” stuff you see in those muggle television shows, you know...” He started massaging his temples trying to work out the horror, “It’s probably my fault. If I had dropped hints before hand he probably wouldn’t have been caught off guard, but I pretty much just sprung it on him.”

“You’re saying... Damn, Scorpius, I have to look at your dad and shake his hand and stuff. I just don’t like to think of our parents, really any of them… I just don’t really want to think about it.”

They just stood looking at each other for a moment. Albus with a lone sock and an unmatched shoe in his hands, Scorpius holding his hand over his mouth, not wanting to say any more.

Albus cocked his head and looked at Scorpius with a wicked smile, “So, who do you think it was?”

Scorpius grabbed a pillow and wailed it at his friend’s head.

_Merlin, there are just some things a kid doesn’t need to know. Right?_

\----

Scorpius had never been so happy to be released into fresh air in his life.

Despite being one of the more optimistic people he knew, sometimes he could feel a bit “Draco.” Today’s trip was one of those moments.

The Weasleys had a deep fascination with all things muggle, which meant that they insisted on taking cars and caravans on their “muggle-style” vacation. Unfortunately, what the Weasleys did, the Potters did as well, so Scorpius, Lily, Albus, Hugo and two family cats had been wedged into the back two seats of the Potter’s Ford Galaxy for what seemed like a 10 hour trip, broken up only by one stop on the Motorway at something called a “Little Chef” for no clear reason, unless by “Little Chef” they meant a chef of minimal to no talent. Even more enjoyable, someone – Scorpius couldn’t decide if it was Hugo or one of the cats (he hoped it wasn’t Lily, for her own sake) - had a bad case of gas. Thinking on it, that could have been a “Little Chef” byproduct. Anyway, even depressing the window button to open the window every 5 minutes didn’t seem to help.

But, now they were at the seaside, and Scorpius was free. All was good with the world once again.

Albus interrupted Scorpius’ worship of the fresh, salty air by hitting him with his sleeping bag.

“Hey, hop-to! We’ve got a tent to set up!”

_Hop-to?_

Granddad Arthur Weasley was directing the layout of the camp, and it seemed that the adults were mainly setting up their tents near the caravan on one side of the site while the kids set up their tents on the other, leaving space for a nice big bonfire pit and game space in the middle.

Rose and Lily were sharing a tent, as were Albus and Scorpius.

Jamie had arrived with the Granger-Weasley family, having grabbed a ride with them after attending some kind of muggle concert the night before and spending the night at their house. Scorpius wondered if he appreciated what he had narrowly avoided. Jamie was kneeling over to anchor his tent, and Scorpius was taken with how really great he looked in his shorts. He did have a really, really nice ass.

“Hey, Scorp!” Albus was yelling now. “Pass me that stake. I need to get this anchored.”

_Shit. I was just staring at Jamie. Openly staring. I have to not do that. Really. Not._

Scorpius grabbed the stake and brought it over to Albus, and began to very purposefully work to get their tent set up. When it was done it was really nice. Not too small, but cozy and there was a nice place for his books and lantern.

“I hope you’re not planning to read too late, Scorp. We are on vacation.”

“I know, but I just got a new book on the Early Wizarding Reform Movement, and really want to dive in.”

“Of course you do.” Albus rolled his eyes. “I’m going to head down to the beach and see what the shore’s like. Come swimming?”

To Scorpius’ surprise, that actually sounded great.  
\-----

That evening, under the direction of Granddad Arthur they had a “good old fashioned sausage sizzle” which basically consisted of sausages roasted over the campfire, crisps, salad, and a variety of tinned items heated up, including beans. Scorpius was very, very grateful he wasn’t sharing a tent with Hugo.

As they sat around the fire after and ate muggle biscuits Scorpius noticed two things. First, he really liked the ones called Ginger Nuts, he’d have to remember that for future reference, and second, James looked really happy and beautiful in the firelight. His hair and eyes were a little lighter and less intense than Albus’, but when he laughed his eyes squinted up and he got these really great little crinkly bits on the edges of them. Every once in a while after he drank something he’d lick his lips, and that was very nice, too.

Crap. He was staring again. He looked over at Albus, who was chatting away with Rose, sharing a story Hagrid had told him about enormous spiders that live in the woods. He was pretty sure that neither of them had noticed any staring, which was good. So, he made a mental note to really, really try not to stare. But, when he looked up he was looking at Jamie again, and Jamie was looking his way, too. He smiled. So, Scorpius tried to give him a nonchalant wave and smile, and then Jamie winked at him and smiled again.

_Did Jamie just wink at me? Wink? What does that mean? I am so cooked._

\----

The days ticked by, and overall Scorpius was having a great time. He and Albus did go to the shops and got ice cream, 99 Flakes, which were very flaky, and some other candies, too. Muggles seem to eat a lot of sweets when they’re on vacation. At least, that’s the way it seemed based on what was for sale in the seaside shops.

He also felt he was doing a pretty good job of not staring at Jamie. He was pretty sure he didn’t stare at him over meals, and that he didn’t stare when they played a game of muggle cricket, and didn’t stare when they were swimming. Well, except for that one time, when Jamie was half-way out of the water and his swim trunks were hanging low on his hips and you could see the trail of soft hair that ran down from his belly button to his waistband…. And, then Scorpius started thinking about what was below that, and the soft hair, and soft skin.. And Jamie’s squinty eyes, and wondered if he made those squinty eyes when you touched him, stroked him, kissed him…

That’s when his delicious trail of thought was interrupted by a shout. “Malfoy, are you staring at me?”

 _Shit._ Jamie was looking right at him and there was at least a fifty-fifty chance he had been sitting there with his mouth gaping open thinking about Jamie's dick. _Fantastic._

“What?” Scorpius stalled, hoping to look like he was off somewhere else. “Oh, I was just thinking about something I read earlier, about the creation of the Wizengamot.”

“You are such a geek, little Slytherin. Please don’t ever change.”

_Geek indeed. Thank Merlin for that, or what else would he have come up with?_

\----

On the night of the meteor shower Rose and Scorpius set up their telescopes so that they and everyone else could get a better look. They got really lucky, and the sky was clear and the meteor shower was pretty significant. Everyone took a look, even Jamie.

“Pretty impressive, Rose & little Slytherin.” He leaned back in to look through the eyepiece and was kind of right next to Scorpius’ cheek.

Scorpius could feel his breath and smell it, too. It was warm and sweet. He was certain his mouth would be the same.

Jamie turned to him, “So, you going to name the first one you find for me?”

“No” Scorpius replied. “If I ever find one of my own, I’m naming it for my mother.”

All of the sudden Scorpius could see a change in Jamie's eyes, and they went all soft and serious. “You should do that. I hope you find one.”

Then he was off, shouting for his cousin Teddy who still owed him from a game of Wands-out Poker they played the previous evening.

Before long it was just Rose, Albus and Scorpius out on the beach with the telescopes looking at stars and sky.

Scorpius sat down on the remaining blanket next to Albus.

“You having a good vacation, Scorp?” Albus asked.

“Yeah, definitely. But, I’m kind of looking forward to heading back to school, too, you know?”

“Why, got your eye on someone?”

“Not specifically, no.” Scorpius was really hoping this wasn’t going to veer into a ‘I noticed you fancy my brother. You realize he’s the school slut’ territory.

“Who would you go for, in our year?”

“I dunno’… Lawrence Kettering? “

“Are you serious? He’s kind of skinny, isn’t he?”

“I guess, but he has really nice teeth.”

“Teeth? You judge guys by their teeth?” Albus was laughing now. “We’re not livestock, you know.”

Scorpius was laughing, too. “Okay, then you tell me, who do you think?”

“For you, or for me?”

“Either”

“For you, then – maybe Carlos Zabini.”

“Huh….” Scorpions thought about it. “Maybe. You’ve got pretty good taste, Potter.”

“I know. I picked you for a best friend, didn’t I?”

“You know, I’m so glad you weren’t weirded out by this whole thing… I mean, there’s not a person on this planet I like more than you.”

Albus shoved his best friend with his shoulder, and Scorpius shoved him back. They weren’t hugs, but Scorpius was pretty sure they still did hug - when the occasion was right. He was really glad Albus was his best friend. He was the very best.

From behind, Rose’s voice broke the moment, “Merlin – you two make even friendship a little revolting. Seriously.”

“Okay, then, how about you, Rose, who’d you like to undo all those ties and and pins you’ve got holding yourself in place?” Scorpius turned to her, one eyebrow up with the query, a look Albus knew would definitely be something someone would go for.

“If you think I’ll ever share that with you, you’re sadly mistaken. You’re totally indiscreet.”

\------

The following evening Mrs. Potter realized they were running low on food, and asked if anyone could run by the shops and pick up some things to get them through breakfast before they left the next day. Albus was still deep in a game of exploding snap with Lily and Hugo, and Rose was off cataloging the native flora in the hope of finding something interesting and earning some extra credit points in Herbology. Scorpius had some muggle money still burning a hole in his pocket and wanted to pick something up for his dad before they left.

“I’ll go, Mrs. Potter. I want to pick a memento up for my dad.”

Harry made a face at Ginny at that, and they both shared the same thought, ‘ _what on earth would this kid find for Draco here? A commemorative shot glass? A puppy made of tiny shells?_ ’

“Thanks Scorpius, that’d be very helpful.”

Just then Jamie strolled up, and with a few words and dismissed protests, Mrs. Potter recruited him, too.

“Hey, I really don’t need you to come along, if you don’t want. There’s not that much on this list.”

“No, it’s okay.”

Luckily it was a shortish walk, because they really didn’t have much to say to one another. As they got to the start of the strip of shops Jamie tugged at his arm and pulled him into a door shaded by plastic streamers.

“You have some cash, right?” He asked.

“I guess so. What is this place?” Scorpius looked around at the television monitors and the guys around the edges leaning on some kind of countertop, reading little booklets, and watching the images on the screens.

“It’s a betting parlor.” Jamie nudged him. “Let’s place one, for fun.”

Scorpius looked again. None of the occupants looked overly happy or like they were doing much winning, but Jamie had this ridiculously alluring grin on his face, like he was just daring Scorpius to do it. Besides, he was pretty sure he had some extra muggle cash.

“Sure, why not? But what do we bet on? I know nothing about anything happening here.”

“We can bet on a horse race. See those over there?” Jamie motioned to a couple of the screens, and picked up one of the little leaflets.. “We can bet on what’s going on at those tracks. These have the odds in them, and you just choose a couple. It’s easy.”

“That has to be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Don’t muggles realize how fickle horses are, and how easy they are to charm? How is it possible these aren’t all fixed?”

“They probably are, it’s just a diversion. For fun…” He said as he pulled Scorpius over toward the betting windows. His hands were warm and alive, and his eyes were dancing. He liked tempting people into things, Scorpius could tell.

“These people don’t really look like they’re having a lot of fun.” Scorpius looked really dubious.

“Okay, I’ll give you that, but come on. It’s a muggle experience. I can’t imagine you’ll do it again.”

Neither can I, thought Scorpius, but within the minute he and Jamie were placing a couple of bets. When he pulled out the bill to pay, Jamie eyed him. “That’s the smallest you have?”

“Yes.” Scorpius didn’t have much experience with muggle money.

“Don’t worry, we can change that.” The teller replied and made the change.

Scorpius stuffed a pretty large wad of cash in his pocket along with the receipt.

“So, what do we do?”

“We wait.”

“This is exciting“

Now Scorpius was openly mocking Jamie, and surprisingly, Jamie seemed to be kind of enjoying it. He kept looking over with a look Scorp couldn’t quite place… Appreciation? Curiosity? Intrigue? The last one seemed particularly implausible to Scorpius, who thought of himself as possibly one of the least intriguing people he knew.

Ten minutes later, and without any surprise on Scorpius’ part, they found that their bets had not paid off.

“Well, that was unique. Grocery store?”

“Sure.” Jamie bounded out the door, looking just as happy as when he came in. As he strolled across the street he called “You can’t tell me that wasn’t a little fun, can you? And, now you can say you’ve done it.” No real surprise that James Sirius Potter was a ‘let’s just do this for the hell of it’ kind of guy. Of course he was.

Once they collected everything and started back, Jamie fell into a more steady conversation. The groceries seem to have given him something to talk about, and Scorpius was perfectly happy to listen and watch his face as he talked.

“You really think your dad’s going to fancy that rock candy? I’m having a hard time picturing that .... You know, little Slytherin, that Orange Squash makes a pretty good addition to Shrieker’s Punch, if you ever have the need – but don’t waste any good stuff in that – just the cheap stuff.”

 _Okay, now we are apparently back to big brotherly type stuff,_ Scorpius thought.

Then he had the uncomfortable sense that someone was coming up behind them. He didn’t really remember anyone on the street, but there was a definite movement as someone stepped into the street light behind them...

As he turned around, he just managed to sidestep someone who seemed to want to hit him. Strangely, Scorpius wasn’t afraid. He was actually a bit ‘Malfoy the Unanxious” at the moment. That’s when he realized there were actually two guys, and that they were actually attempting to mug Jamie and him.

He bobbed again and dropped the bags he was carrying to get his hands free so that he could raise them. Then, ducked and side stepped again and the next thing he knew his fist was hitting the guy full on in the jaw. Hard. It hurt his hand. The guy was staggering, and his hand was throbbing, but he was so filled with adrenaline that all he could do was focus on the guy and Jamie’s guy and hitting the guy again. He wasn’t actually sure what was going on. It was all just happening.

As soon as it started the guys were gone, and Scorpius and Jamie were standing there. Jamie was all jumpy and Scorpius was dazed. His hand was really hurting now.

He sat down on the sidewalk to catch his breath and let his heart slow down.

Then, Jamie was next to him, “Hey, little Slytherin. You okay?”

‘Malfoy the Unanxious’ was now a bit juiced, which made him a little aggressive. “I’m not a kid, I can manage.”

“I know.” Jamie backed off a little.

“Stop with the “little Slytherin” bit, then, okay?”

“Okay, I got it. Look, just let me see that you’re okay….” Now Jamie was holding his hand, his thumb was stroking over Scorpius’ knuckles. “You got that guy pretty good, yeah?”

“Yeah, I guess… I guess so” Scorpius looked down at his hand in Jamie’s.

“Shit – You’ve got a pretty solid right hook.”

Scorpius looked at Jamie, confused.

“It’s boxing. A “barbaric muggle sport” as mum would say. You might like it – the guys are gorgeously fit.” He was smiling and nearly face-to-face with Scorpius, still holding his hand, his thumb still tracing back and forth. Scorpius could feel his heart rate picking back up.

“For future reference, don’t put your thumb inside your fist. You’ll break it.”

Scorpius wondered when Jamie had time to develop a knowledge of muggle fighting, of all things.

Jamie gave his hand a last look, got up, dusted himself off and pulled Scorpius up with him. “You look okay though….Gave him a bit of a sting, I think….”

As he gathered the grocery bags he looked over “You could be dangerous, Scorpius Malfoy. You’re a stinger, alright.”

And Scorpius watched as Jamie Potter looked at him, Scorpius Malfoy, shook his head, and smiled in a way that crinkled up his eyes.

_Merlin, he was totally screwed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like this is turning into a 8-ish chapter piece... And we'll see some interesting developments for both Scorpius and Albus (and Jamie, too) in the coming chapters...


	3. Is This Happening?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's back at school and Scorpius has a busy year ahead. Things get off to an interesting start with an intriguing new DADA Professor as well as some other developments.

Scorpius was not feeling like ‘Malfoy the Unanxious’ today. No, he was feeling every bit ‘Malfoy the Anxious.’ In just a couple of days he’d be back on the Hogwarts Express, heading back to school for his 5th year. He did feel a lot more comfortable than he had a year prior. The whole Time-Turner debacle was now more or less behind him (save some expected whispers and comments), and he had enjoyed a pretty great summer. He even thought Rose might actually like him at least a little bit now that he wasn’t driving her up the wall for no good reason. People find her a bit abrasive sometimes, but to Scorpius she was admirably forgiving, not to mention brilliant, and interested in a lot of the same things he was. He was glad to have her as a potential friend and not an unwilling object of attention.

Since he returned home from his fortnight at the seaside he’d had lots of opportunity to prepare for the fall. In particular, he’d been devoting a fair amount of time on his flying and Quidditch skills, and had convinced his dad to install a home gym that included a heavy bag and a speed bag. In the venerable tradition of Malfoy men, he’d been studying fencing since he was eight and rationalized the extension to another fighting form as an outgrowth of that study. It was plausible, that’s what he kept telling himself. In any case, he was pretty happy with how things were proceeding and fairly confident that he had at least a fair shot of making the Slytherin team. And, to top it all off, he had made it through Volumes One and Two of the _History of Wizardry and Witchcraft in the New World_. So, all in all, he felt he should be looking forward to the upcoming year.  
\---

His anxiety had only lessened a tiny bit by the time he and his dad arrived at Kings Cross. He scanned the crowd, looking intently. Finally, he saw him, Albus. Now he felt better. Even though they’d traded owls basically every day over the summer, once he laid eyes on his best friend he knew everything was going to be fine. He had visible confirmation that the one person who he knew was, without a doubt, always on his side was with him again.

The ride up to school was filled with the usual events and treats, including heavy helpings of pumpkin turnovers and chocolate frogs. Albus and Scorpius’ carriage was busier than usual, with people still carrying a bit of curiosity since the events of last year. Rose stopped by for a while with her friends, and Scorpius thought he spied Albus paying a little extra attention to Phoebe Macmillan. At one point Jamie wandered by with his 7th year friends and stopped in, too.

“Hey there, Albus, Scorpius, how’s everything?” Jamie peeked around the door to their carriage.

“Good. Want a pumpkin turnover? Scorpius bought too many, and I think I’m going to be sick.”

“As appealing as that sounds, no….” Jamie looked at Scorpius, “Save any lives since I saw you last?” He winked, and Scorpius felt himself flush a little.

_Get yourself under control, Malfoy, or it’s going to be a looooonnnnggg year._

“Ha, ha. No, things were very peaceful at Malfoy Manor.”

“That’s good. Then I suppose you’re all done with your readings for History of Magic. Probably read ahead, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Scorpius enthused, “I started on New World history, and it’s amazing. There’s all kinds of pre-Columbian magical history that I had no idea about. Really fascinating. The early developments in arithmancy, astrology and their applications to magical architecture, in particular, were just incredible.”

Jamie shook his head, smiled and his eyes did that crinkly thing again. “Merlin, you are a geek, Scorp.” He looked at Scorpius one last time, still smiling and ducked back around the door to catch up with his friends.

Scorpius felt the heat coming off his own skin and moved a few of his things into his lap. He could feel himself getting a little hard, and was hoping he could keep things under cover before Albus noticed. He really didn’t want Albus to notice this.

\-----

That evening, as all the upper year students were streaming up to the school to get settled in their dorms before the sorting ceremony, Scorpius noticed a strange man running through the crowd. When they got inside the main hall of the school he was standing inside, slightly doubled over and panting hard, as if he had been running a while. Scorpius tugged at Albus’ sleeve,

“Do you have any idea who that is?” nodding toward the tall, and Scorpius noticed, extremely fit, man now wandering down the hallway toward the faculty quarters.

“Not sure, I think Dad mentioned something about a new DADA teacher. Some kind of exchange program with the States, or something.”

“What was he doing?”

“Who knows. It looked unpleasant, though, didn’t it? Isn't that what the Muggles call jogging? Maybe it’s some kind of training regime…?” Albus grimaced a little, “ I hope he doesn’t plan to incorporate that into our studies.”

“Well, I guess we’ll find out soon enough. We better get moving. We need to change and get back down to the ceremony before Jenkins wolfs down all the best food!”

That night’s ceremony was largely uneventful, although there was some chatter about staffing changes, including the new DADA instructor, Professor Williams. He was indeed from the United States, the New Amsterdam School in New York. The students didn’t seem to know much more than that, but there were several interesting rumors running around, the most far-fetched being that he was also an expert in interplanetary magic. Scorpius had heard about so-called “alien-derived magic” before, but assumed it was just a fun fantasy.

In any event, by the time the night finished and they led the first-year Slytherins back to the dorm, Scorpius was completely wiped out. He had a big year coming up. He had to prepare for his OWLs, he was planning to try for the Quidditch team, and, of course, he had to figure out what was happening, or if anything really ever would happen, with Jamie. It was all more than he could really think about at once, and he already missed the summer when he could curl up with a good book and just read through the night.

When he said goodnight to Albus and closed his eyes he was immensely glad to just let his head clear and listen to the comforting groan of the giant squid.

\----

By the time the morning rolled around the sun was shining and Scorpius was ready to go. He still got a little thrill every time he looked through the windows he charmed on the wall of his dorm that allowed them to see the stars at night and the weather during the day. Choosing clothing got tricky down in the Slytherin dungeons without some idea of what was going on the world above.

Albus, as always, was slowly moaning as he tried, several times, to lift himself out of bed. Scorpius thought that if he wasn’t around to bring Albus up above ground every day he would easily turn into some kind of cave-dweller. Maybe that’s why the sorting hat put him in Slytherin in the first place.

“Come on Albus. I want to get to the Great Hall early so that I can sign up for the Quidditch tryouts this afternoon.”

“You still planning to do that?” Albus rolled himself over sideways in his bed so that his feet, at least, could be pulled to the floor by gravity, even if he couldn’t summon the strength to rise.

“Yes, absolutely! You should come and watch. I’ve been practicing a lot over the break, and I’m really getting pretty okay. Maybe even a little better than okay. Maybe pretty good!” He grabbed and pulled Albus’ hands and got him standing. Then he managed to push him into the bathroom. From there, Albus seemed to have enough momentum to get himself at least showered and dressed.

\---

Defense Against the Dark Arts, or DADA to Hogwarts students, was the 5th year Slytherins’ 3rd class of the day, and that was the first time they got a good look at the new Professor. As he entered the room, Scorpius had another chance to size him up. Even in his teaching robes, he was clearly in pretty good condition, even for a guy much younger than the 50-ish years Scorpius guessed he was. He was also fairly tall; probably a couple of inches taller than Scorpius’ dad, and another two or three taller than Albus’, who actually wasn’t tall, maybe just average. With his dark skin, broad shoulders and height, he definitely gave off an air of authority, and Scorpius noted that his features were strong but not hard. He didn’t seem like a cruel or capricious man, which was good because they had had some highly questionable DADA instructors in the past.

“Good morning, students. I’m Professor Williams. As many of you already know, I’ve joined your faculty from the New Amsterdam School in New York.” The murmuring that had started when he entered the room was still continuing, although dying down a little bit in the face of Williams’ commanding, but interestingly quiet, voice.

“I understand that there are some fascinating stories running around about me, and although I could answer them, I won’t. What I know and you do not is an advantage for me, and our ability to defend ourselves – against the dark arts or any threat - is improved when we hold the advantage.”

Professor Williams stood by the window but held his hand out toward the board at the front of the room, and began, through wandless magic, to write on the blackboard, spelling out “S – T – R - A – T – E – G - Y”

“This is the cornerstone of effective action. It’s not how many spells and counter-spells you know. It’s how, when, and why you choose to deploy spells or any other maneuvers. How you use your knowledge of yourself and your opponent to effectively – strategically - leverage the advantages you have. That is what will make the difference when the time counts.”

Scorpius was watching with rapt attention. So much so, that Albus noticed he hadn’t seen that Carlos Zabini had been turning and looking at him pretty frequently during class. In fact, Albus had noticed Carlos sneaking glances at Scorpius on and off during the day in all their classes.

“So, who here can share with me some ideas about the kinds of knowledge that would help us defeat an opponent?” The professor looked around the class, making eye contact with each student, attempting to draw them out.

Finally, Yann Fredericks spoke up, “Skills and strength”

“Okay, an answer. Yes, that’s a good start. What raw materials are they bringing with them? What else?”

“If they’re alone?”

“Yes, support, that’s important.”

“Experience” Carlos chimed in, and the Professor nodded, he was writing down the answers pretty quickly now.

“How about motivation?” Scorpius chimed in.

“Good, now we’re getting into some of the more intangible elements… You are…”

“Scorpius Malfoy”

The professor nodded and smiled, and there was a pause while the class continued to think. What would they want to know…. Finally,

“Maybe their emotional state?” Albus offered.

“That’s very good Mr. Potter. Yes, that’s very important.”

 _Interesting, the Professor knows who Albus is._ Scorpius wondered if anyone else noticed.

Before they knew it the class period was drawing to a close, and their new professor was assigning homework: everyone would need to pay attention during the next 24 hours and come back with something during their day that required them to develop and deploy a strategy. Extra points if they could outline the knowledge they used to help create that strategy.  
As they were just about to leave, he held them for one more minute.

“Before you all leave, I also want to let you know that I personally believe that effective defense is driven by a disciplined mind and body. To that end, I’ve had a gym set up just adjacent to the locker rooms and the Quidditch pitch. For those interested, I’ll be instructing classes following afternoon Quidditch practices on Wednesday and Thursday and holding open gym at the same time daily.

He continued, “These lessons are, of course, completely voluntary and you will not be tested on any material we cover there.”

“What will you be teaching?”

“Oh, right… That…” he leaned his head back with a smile, then looked back at the class, “We’ll be learning and practicing muggle fighting techniques. Although these aren’t traditionally an element of a magical education, I believe we have a lot to teach one another and that we can benefit from their millennia of developments in this area.”

“Like boxing? Is that what you mean?” Scorpius asked.

“Yes, Mr. Malfoy, we’ll learn elements from sports like boxing, jiu-jitsu, muaythai, judo and others.”

Now everyone was looking at Scorpius, wondering how their bookish classmate would have any interest in boxing, not to mention the other things the Professor had just mentioned. They probably would have continued to stare and murmur if the Professor hadn’t pushed them” all out the door with a “see you tomorrow, don’t forget your assignment.”

As they hit the hallway, Albus elbowed Scorpius, “So, what do you make of that?... You seemed pretty intent in there. I’m guessing you didn’t notice Carlos sneaking looks at you… He’s actually been doing it all day.”

“Oh, I noticed. I think it’s because of the tryouts, actually.”

“Sure it is.” Albus shook his head.  
  
\---

Potions was Scorpius’ last class of the afternoon, and as soon as it was done he was up and peeling downstairs and out to the locker room by the pitch to get ready for the tryouts.

As he walked out onto the pitch to join the other hopefuls, Scorpius noticed Albus, Lily, and Rose even, up in the stands and waved hello. He was glad to see them even though he was actually feeling pretty good.

He looked around at the scattered group of hopefuls, and sized up the competition. There were two starting positions and three alternate positions open on the team this year. Carlos had been on the team for a couple of years and was going for a starting chaser position this year. Yann and Tom Goyle would return as beaters, Tom being team captain this year, Emma Smith would probably reprise as keeper, and everyone knew that Susan Flint was a sure thing at Seeker after having been the alternate for the last three years. Scorpius was just hoping to secure one of the alternate spots so that he could practice with the team and play occasionally.

The tryouts lasted an hour and a half, and the sun was pretty low when they finally set down their brooms. Scorpius was moderately pleased with his performance, having really focused on the core beater skills. He knew he had really good speed and maneuvers on his broom, and his experience in fencing made him a little more skilled with the bat. He wasn’t as big as some of the other players, but he was strong and fast, and he thought he did a great job defending for both Carlos and Susan when he playing with them.

Carlos, in particular, seemed pretty enthusiastic about Scorpius’ performance.... _He really was pretty cute. Maybe Albus was right and there was something more than tryout interest in his attention. That could be nice._

As he made his way back to the locker room, he walked by the room that had been made over as Professor Williams’ gym. He leaned in toward the glass in the window to get a better look at the set-up inside.

“So, Scorp, you going to join Williams’ gym?” It was Jamie, who had appeared and was also looking in the gym windows.

“Maybe. I think so. How about you?”

“Yeah. I think I will. He’s interesting, right?”

Scorpius nodded. “A definite improvement on our recent DADA instructors, that’s for sure.”

“Even though he didn’t assign reading your first night?”

Scorpius laughed. “Yeah, even though…. He gave a good assignment. I like that.”

“I bet. So, you got your strategy identified?... Maybe from tryouts?” Jamie nodded in the direction of the pitch. “You looked pretty good out there.”

“Maybe, I think so. I’ve got a couple of ideas.”

“I’m sure you do. I’m sure you’ve been working on it all afternoon.” and he smiled and put his hand up to brush a little hair out of Scorpius face, then turned and walked back toward the castle. “I’ll catch you later, stinger.”

As he watched Jamie go he made note of three things (a) Jamie had evidently been at the pitch long enough to have watched Scorpius’ tryouts, (b) he definitely was very cute, and (3) DADA was probably going to turn out to be one of his most useful classes this year.

_Strategy probably had a lot of useful applications._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hang in there - now that we're back to school, things are going to get a lot more interesting in the next chapter...


	4. Working Things Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius has a lot to think about, and sometimes he just doesn't want to think that hard. Fortunately, he has plenty to distract him including Albus' birthday and an interesting Hogwarts staff development... 5th year's starting off pretty well for our boys, even if one of them has a crush on the other one's brother.

Jamie wandered into the gym, ready for the first day of Professor Williams’ instruction. There were actually more kids there than he expected. There were at least a dozen, both guys and girls, and of course Scorpius was there at the front of the class, looking very keen.

“Hey there stinger, you ready to show these kids what you can do?” Jamie whispered as he took a place next to Scorpius.

Scorpius also tried to keep his voice low because Williams was speaking now, “Maybe… we’ll see.”

“That’s a little mysterious. Something you’re not telling me?”

Scorpius looked at Jamie and cocked his left eyebrow. Jamie pulled back. That was kind of… _Wow… Unexpected_ , Jamie thought to himself. His thoughts continued…Scorpius could do that. One minute he was bookish, geeky, sunshine Scorpius and the next minute, there was this sly streak. Jamie wondered if he got that from his father.

“As I was saying,” Williams continued, raising his voice a little and looking at Jamie, who was trying now to pay attention, “We’ll be learning technique, engaging in strength and stamina training and before too long, I’ll have you doing some sparring. The purpose of this training isn’t to learn to harm one another, but to develop a combination of physical and mental discipline that will help you be a better witch or wizard.”

Williams started leading the students around the gym, showing them the different equipment and the mats and ring for practice and sparring.

“Does anyone have any experience with any of these?”

Scorpius raised his hand, prompting some surprised looks from his classmates. “I can do the heavy bag and the speed bag, sir.”

“Great. Well, let’s start there, Mr. Malfoy. Why don’t you show us how it’s done?”

Scorpius was little anxious and wondered why he’d spoken up, but took a couple of deep breaths and cleared his head. He decided to try the heavy bag first, and worked it for a couple of minutes while Williams talked. Then the Professor told him to stop. “Okay, can you show us the speed bag, then?”

Scorpius stepped up to the speed bag and raised his fists to start. His hair was hanging in his face a little, and the heat of the room was causing him to sweat. He raised the hem of his shirt to wipe his brow, and Jamie caught a glimpse of his stomach. He was surprised by the look of him. The little kid he met four years ago was disappearing and was being replaced by an adult. He’d changed even since their holiday this summer. There was some serious definition there. Then, Scorpius was pulling off his shirt and Jamie was treated to the whole spectacle. Scorpius’ back was amazingly defined. You could watch the muscles across his back and shoulders ripple as he worked the rhythm of the speed bag.

Suddenly, Jamie felt an uncomfortable tightness in his stomach and a strong desire to be just about anywhere but in that room, staring at his brother’s best friend. He was Scorpius, he was fun, cute… the banter had all been for play, right? Merlin, he thought he might be sick.

He was jarred out of his thoughts when the class started moving to the next piece of equipment. Scorpius picked up his shirt from the floor and turned to see Jamie looking at him. He broke Jamie’s thoughts with a wave and a smile, and Jamie managed to return the gesture despite wishing, more than anything, that the class would wrap so that he could get the hell out of there and retreat to his dorm, a place he knew he could be alone. He needed air.

When Williams finished up, Jamie made a quick retreat while Scorpius was pulled aside by his professor, “You’re doing pretty well there considering you haven’t had too much coaching, right?”

Scorpius nodded in response.

“There’s definitely a lot of room for improvement, but based on what I saw today, you have an affinity for this… You surprise me, Mr. Malfoy.” As he walked away he tossed back, “I do like surprises.”

\----

The first weeks of the semester flew by as everyone became established in their schedules. Scorpius’ days became a maze of class, Quidditch practice, the gym, the library, practical studies for his OWLs, meals, and hanging out with Albus. The fact that he was able to navigate it all was due entirely to the help of an exhaustive daily grid created with the assistance of Rose, who was a self-proclaimed scheduling genius.

His every day was so packed he barely had the chance to think about Jamie… or Carlos, although he did see Carlos nearly every day, both in class and at Quidditch practice, since they had both made the team; Carlos as a starting chaser, and Scorpius as an alternate beater. Scorpius was actually relieved to have not done well enough to merit a starting position because even though he was required to participate in practices, he didn’t have to attend all the extra strategy meetings or kit up for every game, which allowed him a little more time for studying.

He was so busy he really hadn’t noticed much, or at least not very much, that he hadn’t seen much of Jamie other than in the gym, and there they were all so busy being put through the ringer that they’d barely said two words to each other. Sometimes he wondered if Jamie was outright avoiding him, but he always seemed his usual self when they did get a chance to chat. So, it was probably nothing, right?  
_____

“Sorry… sorry… oh, sorry…”

Scorpius and Albus were rushing to Transfiguration, weaving between students in the crowded hall when they nearly crashed into Jamie and a bunch of 7th years.

As they stumbled over each other, Jamie realized who it was and quickly pulled back. “Whoa…. Snakettes… You light someone on fire?”

“Oh, Jamie…” Scorpius chirped, reaching for a dropped book.

“Sorry,” Albus dusted himself off, “Transfig…. We’re running late…”

“Oh, wait,” Scorpius turned back “Are you going to be at the gym later?” he asked Jamie.

“Not sure yet, why?”

“I found a book in the library with something that looks like Japanese fighting tactics from the Heian period – 8th Century…. I was going to ask Professor Williams about it, and I thought you might be interested.”

“Sure, Scorpster, if I’m there, I’ll take a look.” He quipped dismissively…. “Anyway… I’ll let you kids go now.” Then he turned back to his friends.

With that being the end of that conversation, Scorpius turned and hurried to catch up with Albus.

He eyed Albus, “Your brother, I don’t get him.”

“What’s there to get?” Albus responded. “If it’s fun right now, he’s on it. If it’s in the future, he’s completely non-committal. That’s just the way he works, at least as far as I can tell.”

“That’s not very nice to say.”

“I don’t mean that to be mean, really… it’s just… I don’t think he likes to think about things beyond the moment, and he’s never really had to. He’s happy now, he’s popular now, and that’s it for him.”

Scorpius looked at his friend, wondering about that. He knew that Albus and his brother weren’t always on the very best of terms, but he also knew he loved him. He didn’t really know what to make of it. Not at all.

\----

The first Saturday of October was a big day in Scorpius’ book. Not only was it the day when the Slytherin team had their first scheduled match against Gryffindor, but it was also his very best friend, Albus Severus Potter’s 16th Birthday. Scorpius planned to make it a great one. They’d have his favorite foods for breakfast, even chocolate frogs, and then they’d catch the game and celebrate in Hogsmeade.

When Albus woke, Scorpius was standing above him with huge grin and an elaborately wrapped gift. It was a special edition copy of “Fantastic Beasts” that included new, multi-dimentional, interactive illustrations of all the creatures as well as an interactive Q&A with Scamander himself. Then, Scorpius pulled out an even bigger surprise, handing a jiggling box to Albus and waiting with expectation. Albus opened the top and pulled out a little furry, guinea pig like creature.

“Are you kidding me?” Albus laughed.

“I know, isn’t it amazing!?” Scorpius was bursting with excitement. “Let’s do it. Let’s make two!”

Albus had a huge smile on his face, and Scorpius was thrilled that he found the perfect gifts for his friend. Nothing in the world felt better than making Albus happy.

“Okay, here goes…” Then Albus screamed at the little rodent. It shivered, and then got really still then….. POP…. There were two of them.

“Oh, Merlin, it totally works!” Albus was nearly squealing with delight. Then, before he knew it, one of them had jumped out of his hand and was running around the floor.

Scorpius ran after it and trapped it under a waste basket, but the act must have scared it because it popped into two again Then the two that were in the basket became four.

“Crap! Scorp. We better calm them down or these Doubling Guineas are going to terrify themselves into a herd!” … He paused to think while they doubled again. “What was it. Oh, right, singing…. Can you sing?”

“No, I can’t sing,” Scorpius answered, alarmed because there were now 16 little rodents tightly caged in the upturned basket.

“Okay, I’ll give it a try…” Albus began softly and slowly with his face near the overturned basket that was quivering with little furry animals “God Save Our Gracious Queen, Long Live Our Noble Queen…” he continued.

“Are you kidding?” Scorpius was laughing so hard he could barely stand now.

Albus continued, intent on his task. After a few moments, it seemed to have worked. The little animals had stopped doubling, and when Albus took out his wand and whispered a revertamentis spell, they started re-integrating with one another. Eventually, they were left with just two under the basket.

Albus sighed and looked at his friend, “Hey, it was that or the Weird Sisters, and I figured I’d go with something with a calm tempo… and… it worked, you can’t argue with that.”

“No…. No I can’t” Scorpius agreed, still working to regain his composure.

“So, now I guess there are three of them. What are we going to name them.”

“Based on this morning’s experience, I’m going with Snap, Crackle and Pop” Albus quipped.

“You’re crazy.” Scorpius looked at his best friend, who really looked like his birthday was off to a pretty good start.

 _Mission Accomplished_ , he thought.  
\-----

When they arrived at breakfast Jamie, Lily and Rose had summoned up Albus’ favorite breakfast, chocolate blueberry pancakes with chocolate syrup, and there were celebratory owls galore from Mr. and Mrs. Potter, all of the extended Weasley Family members, and even Scorpius’ own dad, which kind of surprised Scorpius and Albus. Scorpius hadn’t realized that his dad had now taken to remembering Albus’ birthday.

The best Birthday owl by far was the one from Grandma Molly and Granddad Arthur, which burst open to reveal a giant little boy on a tractor with a big happy face who shouted,

“ **Happy Birthday to the Pick of the Crop!** ”

“How is it that grandparents never seem to grasp that their grandchildren do actually grow past age 5?” Lily asked. “They’re still sending me Birthday owls with ponies and rainbows.”

“I thought you liked ponies and rainbows, Lulu” Jamie mocked, poking his little sister in the ribs..

Lily scowled at him with a half-smile scowl that sisters reserve for their annoying brothers.

\-----

By the afternoon, Albus’ birthday was on a steady roll, and everyone was headed to the big Quidditch match. The Slytherin and Gryffindor teams were both coming in with a record of 2-0. It was the biggest showdown of the season to date, and Rose, who was a chaser on the Gryffindor team, was taking the whole thing very, very, very seriously. She had no intention of losing this match. Scorpius was looking forward to it though, both to cheer on his own teammates and to watch Rose and Jamie on the Gryffindor team.

Thrillingly, at least as far as Scorpius was concerned, the Slytherin team pulled out a 180-50 victory over Gryffindor when Susan Flint managed to outmaneuver both Jamie and Rose to snap up the snitch and win the match at about 80 minutes. The Slytherin stands went wild and despite the grumbling about officiating from the Gryffindor fans, the whole crowd migrated more or less en masse into Hogsmeade to either celebrate their victory or drown their sorrows, as appropriate.

As evening fell, everyone collected at the Three Broomsticks where Madam Rosmerta pulled out a cake, which Mr. and Mrs. Potter had happily arranged ahead of time, and the crowd sang a hearty ‘Happy Birthday’ to the day’s Birthday Boy. Scorpius looked around and thought that surely Albus must be having a good day. He really wanted his friend to start off this year happily. It just felt like they were all on the verge of something new, and he wanted it to be something good.

The crowd was clearly enjoying themselves, and Scorpius found himself just letting the sound of the voices and laughter surround him. He almost didn’t notice Carlos come up beside him.

“What are you smiling about?”

“It’s just a good day.” Scorpius answered.

“Good days look good on you.”

Scorpius flushed a little and looked at Carlos. He did have very nice eyes, actually. They were a rich, dark brown, and his eyelashes were extraordinarily thick and dark. They almost gave him the appearance of having applied kohl. They made him think of the Pharaohs. And, he was smiling at Scorpius, and leaning in close, and it was all very nice, and warm…

Then, he felt a bump from behind. It was Jamie pulling up with some girl, Ellen something, from 6th year. He was pushing toward Albus.

“Hey, little brother” he was shouting.

“Happy 16th!” then he lowered his voice and said to Albus, “I hope this year you’re at least half as happy and lucky as I was when I was your age. Or, at least not as glum as you were last year at this time.” Then he pulled Ellen closer and chewed on her neck, giving Albus a look that may have been meant to say something like, “this is how you do it, kid.”

Albus was just staring at Jamie. Scorpius was staring at Jamie.

“Thanks?” Albus responded, clearly unsure how to end this strange exchange.

“Well, see you!” and with that, he pulled off into the crowd trailing the fairly pliant looking Ellen something-or-other behind him.

“Even on my birthday.” Albus mumbled.

“What’s that?” Scorpius said.

“Even on my birthday, it has to be about him. I wonder if there will ever be something that’s just mine. That he can’t somehow wrangle away.”

Scorpius had a really nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach. He was disappointed in Jamie for putting a damper on what had been a pretty fantastic day for Albus… but there was something else, too. Something he didn’t want to think about at that moment.

So, instead he ordered another round of butterbeers, and he, Carlos, and Rose and her friends, Aishah and Phoebe, who had joined their group, toasted Albus and wished him the happiest ever 16th year.

Before long the conversation and laughter picked up again. When Scorpius looked over at Albus a little later, he saw that Rose’s friend Phoebe had strategically maneuvered herself next to Albus and had begun peppering him with questions about Care of Magical Creatures, a class the two of them shared.

Scorpius was still annoyed with Jamie, but found himself chatting up Carlos… who was so nice. Then, after a couple more butterbeers, and a round of firewshisky shots someone ordered - Scorpius had no idea who - he found himself whispering in Carlos’ ear that he was having trouble hearing him, and did he want to find a quieter spot. Although Scorpius knew he was talking, in his somewhat hazy state he was also wondering what he was doing and what he planned to do once he got Carlos off on his own.

Well, he didn’t really have to worry about that because all it took was those words, and Carlos was leading Scorpius out of the pub. Scorpius saw a flash of Jamie’s face as they left and tried like hell to block it from his view and mind.

Carlos led Scorpius by the hand down the street to a little park. Scorpius knew it as a location for Hogwarts students to engage in quieter conversation and, well… activities that involved fewer words than quiet conversation. They found a bench that was alone, off in a corner, and Scorpius found himself completely without words.

“I’ve forgotten what we were talking about.” He mumbled, noticing that now that they were out of the pub the swimming feeling in his head was much more noticeable.

“Me, too” Carlos confessed, and then he leaned forward and kissed him.

It was good…, really good. Carlos’ lips were smooth and warm and his skin smelled almond-y. Carlos put his hand around Scorpius’ waist and pulled him closer, and Scorpius reached up and circled Carlos’ neck and felt the little hairs prickle up under his touch. Then Carlos parted his lips and Scorpius did, too, and their tongues and lips began to play a little as they kissed… and a thought popped in Scorpius’ head that Carlos’ lips reminded him a little of those muggle candies, gummy worms. Not that they were wormy, but that they were soft, and a little springy, and delicious, and then he wondered if he should be thinking about gummy worms while he was kissing someone. Whatever he was supposed to be doing or thinking, it was definitely nice, and it definitely felt good, and he could definitely picture himself doing this a lot more.

After a little while Carlos pulled back and looked down to see one of his hands holding Scorpius’ and then looked up, and Scorpius watched a luminous smile slowly spread across his face. He looked exactly how Scorpius felt in that moment - like he had just opened a box he found in the back of the cupboard with the most amazing secret; something that had been waiting there just for him.  
_____

Albus tossed and turned that night, rehashing all the goings-on at the Three Broomsticks. There was Phoebe, who was really very nice, and who stayed the whole night and walked back to Hogwarts with Lily, Aishah, Rose and him. There was Scorpius, who did not resurface after leaving the pub with Carlos, but who he heard trying to quietly slide into his bed at least an hour after Albus got in. Most confusingly, there was Jamie and Scorpius, and the looks they gave one another. Albus knew he wasn’t the best at reading people’s intentions but he was good at feeling things, and he knew he was feeling a lot of things when he watched his brother and his best friend last night. He needed to talk to someone and he usually would go right to Scorpius with these kinds of things… but not this time. Like it or not, the best person for this job was probably Rose.

Albus and Rose were in the same Transfiguration class, so he figured he’d just have to grab her then. Until then, he’d just have to lie in his bed and try to sleep, no matter how icky he felt.  
_____

“Rose,” Albus tugged at Rose’s school robes, “Hold on. I need to ask you about something.”

“Can it wait? I wanted to get to Potions early. Apparently we have a new teacher today.”

“I really need to talk now. Can you just stop?”

When Rose looked at Albus she could see the brew of emotions running across his face, and knew that something was seriously off.

“Okay, come here.” She pulled him into a side hall, away from the flow of students.

Albus started fiddling with his hands. He didn’t really know where to start… “Um, it’s about Scorpius… and Jamie.”

“Oh, you mean that they fancy each other?”

“Oh,” Albus looked at her with a start, “You know? Did Scorpius say something to you?” He couldn’t imagine that Jamie would have.

“No…” she said with a laugh, “Wow, you are slow when you’re not paying attention. They’ve been exchanging looks since we were on holiday together this summer. I would have thought you noticed by now.”…. “Although, after last night, I don’t know that it matters anymore.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, did you see them? Jamie purposefully made a scene of slurping on Ellen McIntyre right in front of you both. Then Scorpius walked out with Carlos, and I’m certain Jamie saw… I have to assume something happened.”

“Oh… I guess…”

“You didn’t notice…” Rose smiled.

“So, you think they’re not interested in each other anymore?”

“I didn’t say that… In fact, I’d say it’s pretty much the opposite of that. I think they’re trying very hard not to be interested in each other. More specifically, I’d say Jamie is trying hard to make sure that Scorpius isn’t interested in him, and Scorpius is trying to forget about being interested in Jamie.”

“So, do you think it will work?”

“It could, but if I were betting…. I’d bet against it.”

“Great.” Albus sounded defeated.

“Sorry, Cuz. Don’t know what advice to give you. Hugo’s never shown any interest in my friends, and I’m positive they’d never go for him, so … I don’t know what to say…. Maybe ‘hang in there’?” She started to pull away, “Look, I really should go, I want to make a good impression, you know.”

“Yeah, sure… Thanks, Rose.” Albus was pretty sure that wasn’t the answer he was hoping for, but it kind of was the answer he expected.

As he walked down the hallway he was glad he was heading toward his last and favorite class of the day, Care of Magical Creatures. At least animals never gave him this kind of trouble. They generally were what they were and you could just be with them and not worry too much about if they were going to hook up with your brother… unless they were animagi or something. That’d be a different story entirely.

And, Phoebe would be there… That thought perked Albus up more that he expected it would.

\-------

Scorpius was staring at his papers, listening to the sound of a heavy rain pound against the side of the castle and working over the same Arithmancy proof he’d already worked over at least three times. He was in the library that afternoon instead of at Quidditch practice because that had been cancelled, due to the weather and due to the fact that 4 of their key players were sick, including their captain, Tom Goyle. Actually, quite a few Hogwarts students were sick and had been since yesterday. Scorpius wondered if it was a really long recovery from having much too much fun on Saturday.

His mind kept wandering back and forth, to things he couldn’t seem to block from his head. Jamie whispering in his ear. Jamie holding his scuffed up hand. Jamie chewing on the neck of some girl. He wanted to be thinking of something else.

He looked over at Albus, who was deep in his Herbology essay, and at Carlos, who was flicking his quill back and forth over the tip of his nose. It was cute. He had a nice nose. He thought back to Saturday night, and yesterday afternoon… and earlier this afternoon… and a little smile crept across Scorpius’ face. Particularly thoughts of Carlos’ tongue, and the feel of it in his mouth, and tickling along his lips, and trailing down his neck, and the feel of his breath on his neck, and then it was Jamie, Jamie’s breath, and Jamie's tongue, and Jamie’s hands, and they were doing things that Scorpius and Carlos had not done, but that Scorpius would very much like to do.

 _Enough_. Scorpius had to move, this was getting him nowhere.

“I’ve got to go,” He nearly barked as he snapped his book closed.

“I’m going down to the gym. I’ll see you at dinner.”

Albus and Carlos were looking at each other, and they were both looking at Scorpius’ back as he nearly ran from the room.

“What??” Albus was confused.

“Let him go. He’s prickly-anxious. He needs to work it out.” Carlos told him.

Albus wondered how it was that Carlos, who had been snogging Scorpius for only about 48 hours had the ability to tell Albus’, Scorpius’ best friend of more than four years, what Scorpius was feeling.

Carlos looked as if he was reading Albus’ mind, and told him “He’s nearly green. He gets that way when he’s upset.”

Now, Albus was confused. “Green? What color is he usually?”

“Yellow. Golden yellow, really. Like butter cups.” Carlos was smiling. Albus thought he might be off his head. Did Scorpius know this about Carlos?

Carlos was smiling a little by then, but also a little serious. “I can see…. It…. Auras… what people look like…. and…. I can feel things, too … about people, … and the future.”

Albus was a little alarmed. What did he look like? Probably brown.

“You’re a deep orange-red.” Carlos answered.

This was weird. “Does Scorpius know?”

“Not really. I know he knows I was always good in Divination, but he doesn’t really know what it is. It’s not something I talk about a lot.”

“Why not?....” and Albus added, “Why are you telling me?”

“Well, first… most people, even magical people, don’t really want to know that much about themselves. And they really don’t want to know about their future…. As for you, I feel like you can be trusted.”

“How do you know that?”

Carlos cocked his head at Albus with a smirk that said, ‘ _I just told you I can see things, duh…_ ’ but he said out loud, “Well, first off, red people like you are calm, centered, and also I can see that you’re trustworthy… I don’t see things specifically, but I can just feel that you’re a person a lot of people will trust, and that their trust will be well placed.”

Okay, that’s all very nice, but.., “But, how do you know..”

“Well, I don’t really know, I mean anything can happen… People and events change all the time…” then he looked at Albus, “Besides, it’s not just what I feel, everyone knows. People just trust you.”

Carlos saw Albus was running through the dozens of questions that people always wanted to know. “Will they be happy, will they get married, will they find their soulmate, will they be rich, or powerful.” It was kind of funny that people thought they needed seers to know who they were or what would happen to them, because most of them were pretty similar. You didn’t actually have to even have sight to know that. When he saw Albus zeroing in on one question it made him happy that he was pretty sure it was the right question, a good one.

“Yes,” Carlos said, “You will always be together.”

And, looking at Albus then reminded Carlos why he was sometimes glad he could see things. Because even though it meant feeling a lot of things he didn’t want to feel and knowing a lot of things he didn’t want to know, it also meant he could sometimes tell people good things. Really good things.

\----

The gym was empty when Scorpius arrived, and he went over to the heavy bag. Professor Williams had charmed it so that it no longer hung from the ceiling but was levitating, and once it was activated (all you had to do was punch it with both fists and say “let’s get started”) it would adjust to your height and skill level, moving as you advanced to give you more of a challenge. Pounding on the bag felt good. Scorpius knew his form wasn’t very good that afternoon, but he really didn’t care. He just needed to pound on something, to physically move, and move, and move, so that the constant chatter in his head would be driven out.

He didn’t even notice when Williams walked up.

“Hey, I’m surprised to see you. This isn’t your regular time.”

“No,” Scorpius kept pounding on the bag, “Quidditch practice was cancelled, but I needed to work some things out… to work out a bit.”

“I know the feeling…. I need to ‘work out’ a class of intolerable 2nd years…What’s it for you?”

“Oh, I don’t know… school, studying… people… I just have thoughts running and running in my mind, and they won’t slow down. Time won’t slow, and I just need a rest.”

“Luckily, the bag doesn’t mind.”

“Right.” He kept going

They worked for a while in silence. Williams occasionally giving Scorpius some tips, encouraging him to correct his posture and technique, until Scorpius was just about exhausted.

“Thanks for that. For this…”

“No need to thank me, that’s what we’re here for.” Williams looked at Scorpius. “I just hope it helped.”

“It helps. Is it strange that I feel sometimes like I need this?... There’s something about this that’s … a relief… Like I can let my mind go and take a break from the regular me.”

“That’s not so strange. Although, I bet you find over time that the two are more a part of each other than you think.” Williams was turning to go, and said.

“Have a good night Mr. Malfoy”

“Would you call me Scorpius? Mr. Malfoy reminds me of my dad.”

“That bothers you?” He turned back.

“Well, I’m not my dad.” Scorpius countered, a little defensively.

“I understand, but you should be proud to share his name you know. From what I know of him, he’s a pretty remarkable person.”

“I guess so…” Scorpius thought on it, “Yes… but I still like my name.”

Williams smiled at him, “All right, how about Scorpius here, but Malfoy in class? I insist on that. That’s just how I run my class…. I’ve got to go… you’ll see yourself out?”

As Professor Williams walked away, Scorpius realized he really was feeing better. It was kind of nice to have an adult to actually talk with who wasn’t your dad.

\-----

That night, the residents of Slytherin house were asked to assemble in the Common Room for an announcement. When they got there, they were met by their Headmistress, Professor McGonagall and Professor Williams.

“Good evening students,” McGonagall began, “Thank you for assembling so quickly. I have some news which I hope will not unduly disrupt your year, but we’ve had to make a somewhat sudden staffing change. Effective immediately, Professor Williams will be serving as the Slytherin Head of House replacing Professor Mexborough, who has, unfortunately, left us to attend to a pressing family matter.” McGonagall continued over a stirring chatter among the students, “In light of Professor Mexborough’s departure, we’ve secured the services of Professor Parvati Singh, a former Hogwarts student who has recently been researching magical elixirs in the Asian Sub-Continent. I trust those of you in Professor Singh’s Potions classes will welcome her back to Hogwarts and give her your upmost respect.”

She looked around with her stern, headmistress look at the Slytherin students and cleared her throat for emphasis. “I realize Professor Wiliams was not himself a Slytherin, but I trust he will manage his duties well and will be a welcome and valuable addition to this House.”

“And, now, I must go to speak with the other Houses. I leave you with Professor Williams who would like to share a few words before you depart for your various evening activities.”

“Thank you, Headmistress,” Professor Williams started, “It is my understanding that Slytherin has an extensive history as home of some of our most legendary wizards, and it is an immense pleasure to be a part of Hogwarts history. At the same time, I’m aware that this house also has a reputation which brings with it many preconceived notions about who its members are, and who they might become. I know a thing or two about preconceived notions, and I hope you will all hear me when I say that each of you has the power to decide who you are and what you will become. What others think of the House of Slytherin doesn’t define you, or define this house.”

He looked hard at the students, “You define yourselves and through your choices you will define this house. I expect each of you think about who you should be, and what this house should be, as you create the future for yourselves and for Slytherin.”

Scorpius was stunned. This was not really what he expected. Usually the Head of House was just there to take office hours and mediate inter-House disputes. This was… something else entirely, and judging by the murmurs in the room he wasn’t the only student who was taken by this speech.

As Professor Williams concluded and the students filtered out to get back to their evening schedules, Scorpius heard a voice, it was Professor Williams,

“Surprised?”

“Yes.”

\-----

By the next evening’s dinner, Albus realized one thing. Carlos had become a regular meal companion. He ate with them occasionally before, but since “the big night” two nights ago, Carlos had joined them for lunch, dinner, breakfast, lunch again and dinner again. Five meals in a row counted as a confirmed habit as far as Albus was concerned. He actually didn’t mind, though, if it meant that Carlos and Scorpius were “a thing” now, because that meant that he wouldn’t have to think about Jamie and Scorpius being “a thing,” at least for the immediate future.

Carlos also joined them in the again library that night, and the night after, and for studying in the Common Room pretty much every night, too.

After Carlos joined them the fourth night, Albus decided to have an official “talk” with his best friend. As they got ready for bed that night he brought it up.

“So…. Carlos….”

“Yeah” Scorpius replied

“That’s a thing now, right?”

“Um, yeah, I guess it is.”

“So, is he your boyfriend, then?”

“Maybe? I’m not sure if we’re really putting a label on it yet.”

“Okay, well… are you kissing and stuff?.... Will you be holding hands? …Are you going to be going out on dates?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Okay then, I guess he’s your boyfriend.” Albus concluded. He paused and then continued… “You two planning to share this news with everyone?”

“I guess we’ll have to. I mean now that we’re in a double I don’t have a dorm mate other than you, but he’s in our House. I don’t know. What do you think?”

“Beats me. Better talk it over with him, I guess.”

“Yeah, that makes sense…. You okay with all this?”

“Yeah, he’s nice...” Albus thought back to his conversation with Carlos in the library “He’s a good guy, I think. Besides, it was kind of my idea.” Albus heard Scorpius kind of laugh at that.

“Yeah, I guess it was, kind of.”

What Albus didn’t say was, _‘and he’s not my brother, which is okay, too.’_

\------

The next morning as Scorpius, Carlos and Albus were walking to breakfast, Yann Fredericks and Will Simpson came up behind them.

“So, you two” Yann motioned to Carlos and Scorpius, “This a thing now, is it?”

Scorpius turned, “Yes, it’s ‘a thing’”

Yann laughed, “Well, as Will can remind you, no kissing…”

“… ** _Or better…_** ” Will drawled with emphasis.

“…In the dorm rooms.” Yann completed.

Which earned Yann a knock on the head from Will, who had been caught, literally with his pants down, in his dorm room with a 4th year Hufflepuff the year before, earning him a month of cleaning out stalls under Hagrid’s direction. It was pretty clear that Will still considered this a high moment of his time at Hogwarts, which Scorpius thought it might actually turn out to be, given his aptitude in class.

As Yann and Will jogged off, Carlos turned to Scorpius, “Well, I guess we don’t need to decide how to tell everyone.”

“No, we don’t. I’m sure Yann and Will are taking care of that for us right now.”

\-----

On Friday afternoon, Albus was feeding the bicorns with Phoebe down by Hagrid’s hut, when Professor Williams walked by.

“Hello Mr. Potter, Miss Macmillan, nice day, isn’t it?”

“Yes sir,” they chimed in unison.

“Is Mr. Hagrid inside?” He asked motioning toward the hut.

Albus nodded, “He’s putting away some screaming newts, I think. You might want to wait a minute.”

Williams laughed. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll listen to see if it sounds safe to enter.”

When he’d walked down the path Phoebe turned to Albus, “He seems nice, he’s your new Head of House, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, the first night he gave this speech about people’s preconceived notions of Slytherins and our responsibility to choose our future…. It was kind of intimidating, honestly.”

“How’d it go over?” She wondered.

“Okay, I guess. People just mainly looked at each other…” Albus thought a little, “I think some people liked it. Scorpius looked impressed, and I know that lots of people in our house get frustrated that we’re nearly always equated with Death Eaters and Evil Wizards. I hate it… it’s just … it’s enough to already have everyone think they know who I am because I’m Harry Potter’s Son.”

“Well, that’s a preconceived notion, too, right?”

“Yeah, it is, I guess… Anyway, we’re really not like that, Death Eater wanna-be’s. Pretty much everyone’s pretty normal, really.”

“Well, except for Karl Jenkins” Phoebe reminded Al.

“That’s true, Karl’s a real prat… Probably Tom Goyle, too”

“And maybe Alex Davies... I wouldn’t be surprised if Regina Karus in my house, as well…”

“She’s not that bad, is she?”

“Ugh, she’s awful… She’s definitely at DEWB”

“DEWB?”

“Death Eater Wanna’ Be,” she smiled and laughed, surfacing a dimple.

Albus thought that when she smiled she looked really, truly happy.

\-----

“Rose, I’m fairly sure that beef is dead, you know.” Albus was staring at Rose, who had been poking over and over again at an unfortunate and now perforated piece of roast beef.

She’s just peeved that Anwen Cooper-Williams had a better practice than she did today….Even though she has NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.” Aisha knocked her friend playfully on the temple.

“You know she’s good, and I can’t help it. I’ve been working really hard…”

“I know, and you really want to be seeker when Jamie leaves at the end of the year.” Aisha finished.

“We all know” Albus agreed. “You can’t really think she’s competition, she’s just a first-year.”

“I know, but you don’t see her in practice, Al, she’s really good…. Forget about it. Can you pass me more mash?”

Albus reached for the potatoes, and looked around their table. Their dinner group just seemed to keep growing and growing. It was less than a year since “the incident” as he and Scorpius referred to it, but things had really changed. Last year, dinner was usually just Scorpius and him, but now there were so many it surprised Albus every night. In addition to Al and Scorp, they were usually joined by Phoebe, Rose and Aishah, Albus’ herbology lab partner Gerry, some of Carlos and Scorp’s Quidditch teammates, and even some of their friends. The table always seemed to be filled. It made Albus happy to see so many people from different houses collecting together – like this was the way it always should be.

Albus’ reverie was broken by a voice, “Hello… Mr. Potter, could I have a moment?” It was Professor Williams.

Albus got up and followed the professor to a spot at the side of the hall where they could talk away from the din. Scorpius watched as they spoke a little. Professor Williams was doing most of the talking and put his hand on Albus’ shoulder, and Albus was nodding a little and then showed a slight smile.

When Albus jogged back to the table they all asked at once what the professor wanted.

“Oh, I guess he thinks there’s an intensive magical creatures program in the States I might be interested in. A kind of exchange program…. “ Albus paused… “He said he’s been speaking with Hagrid, and that Hagrid told him that I have a lot of promise, that I’m good with animals.”

“I’m sure he said more than that,” Phoebe enthused, “You’re a natural at it Albus, and you’re clearly Hagrid’s favorite. I’m not at all surprised you’ve been noticed.”

Albus turned bright pink, and if they hadn’t been sitting on opposite sides of the table, Scorpius would have wrapped his best friend in a hug. This was a hugging moment.

\----

That night, as they lay in bed Albus turned to Scorpius.

“I think I’m going to ask Phoebe out on a date.”

“I wondered when you’d get around to that.” Scorpius responded. “She’s nice and she really seems to like you.”

“I think I like her, too.”

Scorpius rolled over so that he could see his friend in the bed next to his, “Why don’t you ask her tomorrow and see if she can come to Hogsmeade? Carlos and I can go, too, and we can make a double date of it. That way you won’t have to do it all on your own.”

What Scorpius didn’t say is, _‘then I won’t have to be on a date alone with Carlos, either’_ because it was going to be his first real date, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well - this is actually the first part of what I thought would be one chapter... Things just keep growing...


	5. What The Hell Is Jamie Thinking?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saturday afternoon in the library, and Jamie can't escape his thoughts... A little snack of a chapter between 4 and 6.

Merlin, he was doing it again. He was having another daydream about the one person in this entire school he wasn’t supposed to be daydreaming about. _Scorpius. Fucking. Malfoy._ And, this wasn’t one of the good, imagine him sucking me off in the shower version fantasies, this was another one of those daydreams that was making him feel like a first year Hufflepuffer. In it, he was sitting in the library, just like he was doing now, studying for his NEWTs, and Scorpius had come up behind him, wrapped his arms around him, and kissed him on the back of his neck. He still felt goosebumps back there. Mother of Merlin, even Lily probably didn’t have fantasies like that, and she still drew little hearts on her notebooks with boys' initials in them. Last week it was so bad he’d been daydreaming about picnics… PICNICS!

He looked down at his papers and realized he’d been doodling little scorpions in the margins. This was a total nightmare. There was nothing salvageable on the page anyway, so he tore it out and figured he’d roam the stacks and try to find something else to think about, anything else to think about. He was ostensibly here to work on his Potions homework and squeeze some studying in, but the truth was the reason he was here and not at the Slytherin/Ravenclaw match that afternoon was that he couldn’t stomach the thought of sitting in those stands watching Scorpius gazing up at his new boyfriend. Were they really boyfriends now?

Carlos Zabini. It had been one week since Al’s birthday, the day when they had seemingly hooked up, and now every time he saw Scorpius he saw Carlos. One week and they were more or less inseparable. The one place he didn’t see them together was the gym, and Jamie spent most of his time trying not to look at Scorpius because then he really would have shower-based fantasies. He couldn’t stand to see him with Carlos. He couldn’t have him for himself. Scorp was his brother’s best friend.

He’d pin at least part of the blame for this whole mess on Albus. If he hadn’t pulled him aside that week before holiday with the whole, “Oh, by the way, Scorpius is out now, so don’t go being a prat” speech, then he never would have had it in his head at all. He never would have gone all “Jamie Potter” on his ass over the two weeks away. He never would have noticed him checking him out. He never would have tried to have fun with his whole, flirty, ‘ _I’m Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and Head Boy, aren’t I amazing?’_ routine. He never would have realized that, of course, Scorpius was completely immune to that bullshit, being completely himself: a somewhat oblivious, sunshiny, geek with a sprinkle of sarcasm. And, they definitely wouldn’t have ended up in Williams’ gym together a month ago when he had the serious misfortune of seeing that in addition to gorgeous skin and delicious mouth Scorp had an entire feast of a body hiding under those robes. Fuck. His mouth was actually watering now.

He grabbed the crumpled evidence of his pathetic infatuation and walked through the library, heading for the bin, grateful for a reason to move because sitting still was doing him no good. As he wandered through the stacks his head began to clear. He’d just continue to do his best to steer clear of Scorpius even though it was killing him to be such an ass… I mean, Ellen McIntyre? That was really scraping the bottom, even for “Jamie Potter.”

As he rounded a corner in the section devoted to magical languages, he noticed Dan O’Connor and Vic Crabbe mumbling together. That was unexpected because (a) you’d think Crabbe would be at the match watching his girlfriend, Emma, who was keeper on the Slytherin team, and (b) O’Connor was not known to be a library-frequenting type. It was pretty widely known he was making it through school on the “Gentleman’s A.” He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about this didn’t seem quite right. Jamie’d been involved in enough ill-conceived schemes in his day to recognize the sound and look of illicit collusion. This definitely had the look of that.

Since he wasn’t going to get a good listen to their conversation, Jamie decided on the next best thing. He’d park himself somewhere that would require them to walk by on exit, and he’d see what kind of reaction he got when they realized they hadn’t been alone. He pulled a book on Cleromancy and began reading an article about its impact on war craft which was surprisingly interesting.

It was only about two minutes later that Dan walked by, with Crabbe following about 30 seconds behind, an interval that was obviously planned to allow them to exit separately but that didn’t allow for Crabbe to have been doing any real work. They both looked startled to see him, and, more suspiciously, they both offered up the same unnecessary and ridiculous excuse for their presence… as if they were actually both catching up on Herbology research.

If he could have, Jamie would have wiggled his toes in glee. This was perfect. Getting to the bottom of whatever O’Connor and Crabbe were up to was right up his alley as Head Boy, and it would be the perfect diversion from his other problem. Who knew the library could be so much fun? Okay, there was one person, but Jamie was specifically not thinking about him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought a little peek at what Jamie's thinking would be fun about now.


	6. It's A Good Time To Be Albus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are going pretty well for Albus. Date night, patronuses, and a saturday morning clearning out bicorn pens!

Scorpius was looking at Albus and Phoebe and thinking about how happiness seemed to be radiating from them. The golden light from the candles and the fire in the hearth for which the restaurant was named danced in both their eyes, making Albus’ nearly a searing green and Phoebe’s a bright gold. This was turning into a good date.

He turned back to Carlos, who was laughing with them at a story that involved a tray of overturned slugworms and at least a dozen screaming first year girls. Everyone looked right, and Scorpius took a nice, deep breath. He felt like he hadn’t done that in days, as if he’d been walking along the edge of a cliff, constantly afraid he was going to take the wrong step. Now he was starting to feel like everything really might work out okay.

He thought back to how ridiculously nervous both Albus and he had been about that night. After waiting an entire week for this date, they had worked themselves up into such a state that they’d spent at least an hour sorting through clothing, deciding what to wear only after they had argued on and off for several days about whether to go to Madam Puddifoots or The Hearth, the restaurant Hannah Abbott had opened next to the Three Broomsticks when she took a partnership in that establishment 5 years prior.

Scorpius laughed to himself, remembering …

“ _There’s no way we’re going to Madam Puddifoot’s,” he groaned, pacing around their doom room. They had to make a decision soon or they’d end up having this date at the Hogshead, which really wouldn’t count as a date at all._

_“But, it’s where everyone goes…. And I think that’s what Phoebe might expect.”_

_“Okay, let’s look at this logically. First, I think you’re completely overestimating how much Phoebe might even want to go there. Second, you’re double dating, and that place is filled exclusively with seating for couples. Third, you’re going with Carlos and me, and I can tell you that neither of us want to spend an evening surrounded by bows and frills… not to mention that there’s nothing real to eat on that menu. It’s all finger sandwiches or slivers of food. I could probably survive it, but I’m not doing that to Carlos.”_

_Albus pursed his lips, and Scorpius thought that he might be making progress…_

_“And, Madam Puddifoot’s is a romantic location… maybe you should save that for a night when it’s going to be just the two of you?” with that, Scorpius was pretty sure he’d made his case, so he wrote out a request for a reservation at The Hearth that night at 7:30. He looked again to Albus, who was gnawing on a fingernail, “Okay?”_

_“Yes, okay. You’re right. It’s the best choice.” Albus conceeded, letting Scorpius send the note off with his owl, Ragnell._

_“Great. Now that’s done, let’s figure out what we’re wearing.”_

_“Oh, Merlin, maybe we should just skip this all together. Maybe we should go on a picnic?” Albus was reaching now._

_“Albus, we’re going. You asked her. So we’re going. Let’s look at your clothes.”_

_Albus began pulling clothing out of his wardrobe and trunk. Scorpius looked askance at everything._

_“Albus, don’t you own anything that’s not hopelessly wrinkled?” He knew the Potter family didn’t go in for formal occasions, but surely he had to wear something at least semi-presentable once in a while, right?_

_Albus looked at him with a shrug. “Help me?”_

_Scorpius’ knew anything he had was probably going to be too big since he was now about three inches taller than Albus. They’d just have to find something in amongst Albus’ wadded wardrobe._

_He began to dig through the piles and finally located a collared shirt and a sweater that wasn’t too rumpled. Paired with a clean pair of jeans he thought it should be okay for the evening. At least they wouldn’t have to beg the house elves to rush a pressing job. “These will work. Besides, I’m pretty sure she’ll like whatever you wear. She’s seen you elbow deep in guano, right?”_

_“Thanks, Scorp.” Albus looked over the choices, still looking suspicious._

_Scorpius turned to his wardrobe, sliding the hangers back and forth. After far more consideration than was probably necessary, he settled on a dark green, mandarin collared shirt that was a blend of cotton and raw silk. It had a little bit of a sheen and was somewhere between emerald and a dark forest green. It set off his eyes, he thought… It was actually pretty close to the color of the shirt he was wearing the night at the seaside when he and Jamie had gone to the betting parlor. He thought back to that night, to the feel of Jamie holding his hand and brushing his thumb along his knuckles… It seemed like a very long time ago now._

_He brushed aside that thought, found himself a pair of jeans, and figured he’d finish it off with a pair of black monks. That should do the trick. One plus of being a Malfoy is that you learned how to dress._

He came back to the present when Carlos brushed his wrist.

“Hey there, you lost?”

“No,” he looked across the table to see Albus and Phoebe deep in conversation, “I was just thinking about long it took us to get ready this afternoon. Albus stores everything he owns in little balls. Everything was completely wrinkled.”

Carlos laughed and looked at Albus, “You seem to have done a good job, the way she’s looking at him. --- And you” he pointed to Scorpius’ shirt, “I see you went with Slytherin colors despite our disaster on the pitch this afternoon. That’s brave.”

The Slytherin team had a terrible outing that afternoon, losing 210 to 40 to Hufflepuff. It was the team’s second loss in a row, which was rattling the players given the fact that they were generally acknowledged to have gone into the season with a strong team. Scorpius thought they looked listless and disconnected…. Actually, it was mostly Tom and Emma who looked really outclassed. They were just slow in every way possible: outmaneuvered and outflown.

“You looked good, though.” Scorpius offered.

“Thanks, but the team was pretty slow, no? What’s up with Goyle and Smith?”

“I don’t know, they really didn’t seem themselves.” Scorpius thought back. “I haven’t seen Emma that off her game in… I don’t know… maybe forever.”

Carlos sighed, “Well, it probably means extra practice next week for us, right?”

“Yup, I just hope Goyle isn’t under the weather.”

“Why, you don’t feel ready to play?” Carlos was looking into Scorpius face now, trying to be reassuring. “You’re looking good. I’m sure you’re ready.”

“Maybe, but I’d really rather watch.”

“I’m sure” Carlos smiled.

Scorpius blushed and was thankfully interrupted by Albus.

“Hey, enough Quidditch, you two.” Then he motioned to the server who was nearing their table, “Does anyone want dessert?”

“Actually, I’d rather pop by Honeydukes.” Phoebe offered.

Those were the words Scorpius had been waiting to hear, “Oh, me, too! I’m running low on Pepper Imps”

Albus laughed, then looked at Phoebe, “They say you can make friends with sweets, you know.”

Scorpius kicked him under the table, and Phoebe just put her head in her hands.

After they paid for the meal, they wandered over to the sweet shop which was now a Hogwarts institution. They browsed the display cases and placed their orders. Scorpius walked away with a bag full of goodies, while Carlos, Albus and Phoebe all picked out petit fours with dragons on them that breathed sugar fire puffs.

As they stepped out the door Phoebe looked up and noticed Albus still had a few crumb on his lip. She brushed them away, which Scorpius thought was completely adorable. Then he felt Carlos’ hand; Carlos was lacing his fingers between Scorpius’. Carlos looked down, and Scorpius thought he had a kind of quizzical look on his face, so he gave Carlos’ hand a little squeeze to make sure that Carlos knew he was okay with holding hands.

The streets were buzzing with students, and they were just about at the edge of the village when they came across a group of 6th and 7th years, clearly out for the evening.

“Oh, hey… Al, Scorp.” It was Jamie. “Turning in already?”

“It’s been a pretty busy day,” Albus answered, looking at Phoebe with a look that said he wasn’t interested in large group activities at the moment. “You have fun, though.”

Jamie slung his arm around one of his companions, Dan O’Connor. “I think I will…. You have a good time, too.”

Scorpius felt his skin heat up a little and watched Jamie turn away to continue on toward the village. As their group turned to walk towards Hogwarts, Scorpius could have sworn he felt Jamie turning to take a look back at them.

It wasn’t a long walk back to the school, and when they entered Albus and Phoebe peeled off in the direction of the Gryffindor tower. Carlos and Scorpius turned toward the Slytherin dungeon. They were still walking hand in hand when Carlos pulled him aside, finding a quiet corner.

They began kissing and Carlos was nibbling slowly on Scorpius’ lower lip, then he brought his mouth back over Scorpius, and his tongue darted in Scorpius’ mouth. Scorpius could feel his heart speeding up. Why was he suddenly so nervous? It’s not as if this was the first time. Scorpius was a little lightheaded, breathing in Carlos’ breath while one of Carlos’ hands moved around his neck, lacing into his hair. He felt the fingers of his other hand trail down his back. Then Carlos’ pulled back, and his hand was on Scorpius’ chest. His index finger was tracing the front of his shirt, and darting between the buttons. He unbuttoned Scorpius’ top button, and the next, and the next, and then leaned back in to kiss him as he slid his hand in over the the top of Scorpius’ rib cage and up to his shoulder. Scorpius’ heart was beating harder now, and he was getting hard. Carlos felt it and lifted his hand off Scorpius’ shoulder and placed it on his abdomen, beginning to slide it lower to Scorpius’ waist. Then a bit lower, and then he was gently stroking Scorpius through his pants. Scorpius was so hard now, and he could barely breathe, and suddenly this all didn’t seem right. He just didn’t want to do that. Not yet. He pulled back.

“I’m sorry… I’m….” Scorpius stammered.

“It’s too soon.” Carlos finished for him, working to moderate his breathing. “No, it’s… you’re right. There’s no reason to rush things, right?”

“Please don’t think”

“I don’t, really…” Carlos reassured him. “I understand”

Scorpius put his hands up around Carlos neck and let their foreheads touch. “Thank you.” He exhaled with the distinct a feeling that Carlos was making excuses for him, and he was immensely relieved.

\----

Scorpius wasn’t sure how much later it was when Albus got in. It seemed like a while, but he had been struggling to get to sleep.

“Scorp, you still awake?”

“Yeah.” He rolled over in Albus’ direction.

“That was…. Really great, yeah? Thanks for going with me… I don’t know why I was so nervous.”

Scorpius could feel the happiness rolling off his friend, and he was really glad. It was something to think about other than the uneasiness that had him tossing and turning since he got in his bed.

“See you tomorrow, Albus.”

“You to, Scorp…”

Scorpius rolled over again and strained to hear the sound of the squid, hoping for something to lull him to sleep.

\-------------

“I’m pretty sure I’ve almost got muffliato nailed…. I can think of so many times when that would have been useful… Are you ready for DADA? I really think that I might be able to summon my Patronus today. I worked on it for an hour yesterday with Phoebe while you were at practice, and I’m starting to feel like I might really be able to get it to happen…”

Scorpius wondered how Albus was getting enough oxygen to his brain. It seemed like he hadn’t taken a breath in at least three minutes, maybe more. Just over three days had passed since ‘date night” and Albus was still riding high from that event and whatever had been transpiring between Phoebe and himself in the days since Saturday. He spent at least half of their charms class, which they shared with a bunch of 5th year Gryffindors including Phoebe and Rose, exchanging glances with Phoebe and blushing like a ripe apple. All of which only served to make Scorpius grumpy because while he wanted to be head-over-heels happy for his best friend, he was still a little unsure of things following his own side of their double date. Carlos was being very cool about everything, but he was still anxious. He was definitely a bit “Malfoy the Anxious” about the whole thing.

That’s why he was really hoping to put those thoughts aside and just focus on his school work for the moment. He would love to nail his Patronus today. He’d been making pretty good progress, and he thought that Williams’ fighting instruction had actually been fairly helpful. All that shadow boxing and breathing work was helping him really get himself centered and focused on the mental image he needed to summon and hold in order to get the charm to work.

When they got to DADA, Professor Williams had cleared out the classroom again so that they would have space to work on the summoning charm. Scorpius was working on his breathing and trying to clear his head while class started.

“Good morning class, I hope everyone is ready for today’s exercises.” Professor Williams began. “Let’s pair up and get comfortable”

The students spread across the available space, facing each other to work in pairs. The routine was that one student of the pair would attempt the charm while the other observed and provided feedback and notes, as needed.

Before they began, the professor moved to the front of the class. Albus, Scorpius, Carlos and some of the other students exchanged looks. Was he going to summon his Patronus? He hadn’t done so thus far, spending the first few days working with them on posture and mental exercises.

The professor closed his eyes and brought his wand just up to elbow level. Scorpius thought that he looked rather elegant. He wasn’t holding his wand tightly, but was almost gently cradling it in his hand as if it was a baton and he was just about to begin conducting a symphony.

Then he incanted, “Expecto Patronum” His voice sounded almost like a low hissing hum, and a mist flaring up from the end of his wand like a geyser shooting up in the air. Suddenly, it was an enormous snake, a huge cobra hovering over the class. It was both intimidating and mesmerizing at the same time. Then, in a moment, it was gone.

“Of course,” Albus quipped to Carlos and Scorpius who were standing next to him. Now they had at least one possible reason that McGonagall thought he’d be an appropriate Head of House for Slytherin.

When the class was ready to try their hand, Albus and Scorpius stood and faced each other.

“So, you wanna’ go first?”Albus asked.

“Sure, why not”

Scorpius went back into his head and took some steady breaths. Choosing his best memory was easy, it was the moment he realized that he had returned to a world where Albus Potter existed. That feeling, the pure happiness of knowing that his best friend in the world existed again after the darkness of a world where he had not, was the very best feeling Scopius had ever had and thought he ever would have. He just raised his wand and centered on that thought… _Albus. Albus Lives_.

“Expecto Patronum” Scorpius let his eyes open and looked to see a mist forming at the tip of his wand. It grew, moving upward in a beautiful sweep. He could feel the joy of his thought, _Albus Lives_ , and the patronus grew bigger and bigger.

Classmates were staring now. Albus was staring. It was really beautiful. A swan. A giant, silvery swan.

As Scorpius let his thought dissipate, the patronus dissolved, and Scorpius looked around the room. People were smiling including Carlos who was looking at him with the kindest smile. He couldn’t help but smile back.

He turned to Albus, “Well, I guess it’s your turn.”

“Okay...” Now Albus was starting to feel a little intimidated. Scorpius had just summoned a fantastic patronus. What if his was a beetle or some kind of worm, or who knows what? He wanted something good. He knew you weren’t supposed to worry about that, but how could you summon your patronus in a time of need if you thought it was silly or ugly? It just didn’t make sense to him.

So, he settled in on a thought. It was his family, he pictured them from this summer sitting around the bonfire, everyone bathed in that golden light. My family, My Family, My Family, he thought… He raised his wand.

“Expecto Patronum” A mist began to gather and grow. It was really big, really very big but it didn’t seem to be forming into anything. It was just kind of a giant blob. It was moving as if it wanted to become something, as if pieces of it were pushing at the edges to become something, but it was not actually becoming anything. Finally, Albus couldn’t watch the blob and hold in a happy thought about his family any longer and he just let it go.

“Uuuuuuugggggggghhhhhhhhh…” he let out a big sigh. He looked like he was deflating right along with the patronus blob.

“Is a blob a potential patronus?” Polly Chapman very unhelpfully asked. “I mean, should we be thinking that’s a possibility, or maybe it was a ghost?”

“No, Polly, but thank you.” Professor Williams interjected, “Your patronus will be in the form of a living thing.”

The professor continued, “You’re all making good progress, but as you can see, it takes some practice to get your mind cleared and centered. If any of you are interested, I’m happy to help coach you with some one-on-one sessions after class or by appointment.”

The class mumbled something that resembled a “thank you,” but it was pretty obvious that most of the students were hoping it wouldn’t come to that.

Some in the class were starting to have success, and Scorpius noticed that Carlos, who was partnered with Yann Fredericks, managed to get his working. Carlos’ was an owl, which seemed completely right to Scorpius.

As they were leaving class, Professor Williams pulled Albus aside, “Mr. Potter, if you’d like to stop by my office later, I think we can get your patronus working without too much trouble. You’re very close. Please don’t be disappointed. Everyone comes along in their own time.”

Albus didn’t really want to think about it at the moment, and mumbled a little “Thank you” and ran out after Scorpius who was waiting with Carlos so that they could all walk to Transfiguration together.

“So, you ready to kick our asses in Transfig?” Scorpius asked.

“Sure,” Albus responded noncommittally.

“Come on,” Carlos countered, “You know you’re McGonagall’s favorite. You’re already starting to work on your animagi. Some of us will never get there.”

“It’s so much easier to do that. Transfig is easy. All you do is imagine the thing, you don’t really have to think any thoughts.”

“It’s easy for you because you’re good at it. ” Scorpius countered, “Look at poor Aisha, she’s totally lost, and you can tell it drives her nuts because Rose is so great at it…. Besides, it gives you a chance to show off your mad wizarding skills for Phoebe.”

Carlos couldn’t stop himself from laughing as Albus elbowed Scorpius hard and blushed redder than an apple.

\------  
That same evening Professor Williams walked into the Slytherin Common Room and looked around at the students collected there. There were at least 20 scattered across the room from all of the houses. Potter and Malfoy were there along with Phoebe Macmillan, a Gryffindor who Williams understood to be seeing Potter now, and Carlos Zabini, who seemed to have paired off with Malfoy. Yann Fredericks had joined them along with Philippa Flint, who Williams thought was in Hufflepuff. He saw Polly Chapman, Trina Wilkes and Sirena Andrews huddled with a couple of girls he thought were from Ravenclaw. He realized that it was a break with tradition, but opening the Common Room to all students for a portion of the day was something he insisted on when he agreed to take the Slytherin Head of House position. He knew that in the past the House Common Rooms had been restricted areas, but he thought it would be good for this house, in particular, to be an open and welcoming space. So far, it looked like he had been right.

Before he wandered back to his rooms, he stopped to talk with Albus Potter.

“Albus, do you have a minute? There’s something I wanted to speak with you about.”

Scorpius raised an eyebrow at Albus, wondering what it could be.

“Sure,” Albus answered, getting up from the couch to follow Williams to his library.

“Come on in,” Williams motioned to a chair once they were inside. “I just wanted to check in with you about how your Patronus Charm is going. I sensed some frustration earlier today.”

“Yeah....” Albus agreed quietly, “I’m not sure why it’s not forming. I’m thinking really hard. I have a memory, and I’m thinking about it as clearly as I can... I know it’s right.”

“Albus, maybe you need to not ‘think’ so hard. You should work from your talent and strength, which is feeling, empathy.” Williams continued, “If I were working with Scorpius, I’d have him use logical thought or deductive reasoning to improve his approach, but you’re not Scorpius. Please don’t try to think like him, or like anyone else. You need to find your own approach, feel it out… Spells and charms are embodied just as much as they are intellectually conceived…” He paused for a moment, looking at Albus, ”Do you mind sharing your memory?”

“It’s my family.”

Williams smiled. “That’s good… Good…So, instead of thinking of them, feel it. Feel the feelings you have for them, with them. Let those feelings develop into a single thing, let them fill you so that it’s the only thing, both in your mind and in your body, if you can.”

“Okay” Albus seemed dubious.

“Okay, you want to give it a try?”

“Right here?”

“Why not. I bet you can do it.”

“How much?”

Williams started to laugh, “Allright… If you do it, I give you 20 sickles.”

Albus was starting to laugh now, too “So… you’ll actually pay me to do it? How much are they paying you for this job?”

“Not enough, Potter. So, you’d better make this worth my while.”

“But what if I lose?”

“Then you have to come to my class after last period every day to practice.”

“That’s not good.”

“No, it’s not… So, you should probably try to get this done now.”

Albus could see why Scorpius liked hanging out at the gym with this guy. He really had a talent for pushing you to do things. At this point, Albus couldn’t come up with one good reason not to at least try. Plus, there was money in it.

“Okay, here goes”

Albus stood, loosened up his arms, rolled his head around to loosen his neck, and started to roll his shoulders.

“Really, any time Potter, I have some 3rd year quizzes to mark.”

“Right, okay then.” So he closed his eyes and thought back to the bonfire again. He looked at each person’s face, his parents, Lily, James, Rose & Hugo, Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron, Grandad and Grandma Weasley, his aunts and uncles… cousins… and Scorpius. Scorpius was definitely part of his family. My family. He let himself stop thinking the words and just let the feeling flow in through his chest, letting the golden warmth flow through his shoulders and arms, his stomach, down to his toes, everywhere. He felt himself warming up from the inside with the feeling. He just became the feeling. Once he felt that he had it completely he lifted his wand.

“Expecto Patronum”

The mist came from his wand again, filling the empty space in the room. As it bloomed it began to take shape, stretching and growing wings, and a tail…. It was…. A dragon. Albus Potter’s Patronus was a dragon. Albus looked over at Professor Williams who smiling at him with his eyebrows lifted in satisfied surprise.

“Well, that was worth the wait, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, Shit…Oh…Sorry” Albus was nearly bursting. _A fucking dragon_. He probably wasn’t supposed to think this way, but his Patronus totally rocked.

“Well, then….” Williams dusted his hands together, ” I think my work here is done. See you tomorrow?”

“You bet… Oh, and thanks, really.”

Albus walked, actually kind of jogged, back into the Slytherin Common Room with a ridiculously big smile on his face.

“So, what was that about?” Everyone wanted to know.

“We were working on my Patronus.”

“And….”

“It’s a dragon.”

“No, shit. You’re lying!” Yann nearly shouted.

“Nope, it’s true.”

“Show us.”

Albus looked around, “Okay, but let’s go outside.”

So the whole group of them, Scorpius, Carlos, Phoebe, Yann and Philippa, made the trek up from the Slytherin dungeon up to the nearest entrance into one of the courtyards.

Standing there under the stars Albus closed his eyes for a moment, lifted his wand and “Expecto Patronum”

Once again the white mist started flowing from his wand and shaping into something large. It rose and rose up into the night, and there it was, a dragon. A gorgeous Welsh dragon. Albus was pretty sure he heard some gasps. _Yes_. His Patronus rocked.

Scorpius walked over and wrapped his arms around Albus.

“Hugging moment.”

“I know.” Albus smiled.

\--------------------

There were a few private dining rooms upstairs at the Three Broomsticks, and on Thursday evening, Hannah Abbott was hosting a group of three men in one of them. They’d specifically asked for a spot that would be quiet so that they could talk and not be interrupted, or, she assumed, overheard. She gave them the best choice. It was the least she could do given that they were old classmates from her years at Hogwarts. It struck her as funny that she ended up back in Hogsmeade, with all that had happened in her years at the school, but some places just felt like home… and she wasn’t the only person who found themselves coming back again. Although a lot of them were returning for children or friends.

“So, how was your meal?” She asked.

“Honestly, it was the best food I’ve been served in quite a while,” Harry answered. “The quality of the dining scene has increased dramatically since we were students.”

Draco laughed, “Not that everything wasn’t delicious, but it wouldn’t have taken much. Madam Puddifoots lives on her décor, and the three Broomsticks only ever offered pub food, and the Hogshead, I shudder to think.”

“How about you, Lin? Ever eaten there?” Harry asked.

“Ah, no, but I know some of my students have…. With decidedly mixed reviews,” Professor Williams responded.

Hannah laughed, “Well, I like to think that each of us has our clientele…. Will you be having any dessert?””

“Actually, we should probably be moving along.” Harry answered, “I have to get home, and I’m sure you have places to go or papers to mark.”

“True enough, besides, if I eat too much more I’ll have to spend an hour or more on the treadmill.” Draco added.

Hannah shook her head, “Honestly, Draco, I don’t think you’ve gained 5 pounds since we left school… I know plenty of people who would kill for your metabolism”

“Oh, I work to maintain this work of art.”

“Okay, Okay, I think we’ve heard just about enough of that,” Harry interrupted with purposeful coughing.

“Really, I was just starting to really enjoy Draco’s self-flattery.” Professor Williams gave a bit of a wink to Draco.

“I’ll put it on your account, then?” Hannah finished, looking at Harry.

“Yes, that would be great. Thanks again. We’ll show ourselves out.”

The men made their way down the stairs and out a back door that emptied into the alley. As they rounded the corner to a spot where they could disperse on the street without much chance of being seen, Harry pulled back Draco…

“Draco, there’s something I wanted to mention to you.”

“Oh, what’s that?”

“Well, it may be nothing, but I thought I should let you know…. Lily sent me an owl the other day, and well…. Of course, it may just be a case of little sisters having something to tell about their older brothers… but….”

“Spit it out, Potter. Honestly, I don’t know anyone who meanders more than you.”

“Well, it seems she and Rose have been talking amongst themselves, and they think there may be something brewing between our sons…”

“Brewing, with Scorpius and Albus? Well, what could there possibly be to worry about there? Despite being your child…” Draco still absolutely loved needling Harry, “Albus is one of the most trustworthy children I know. Scorpius is lucky to have him, as a friend, or wherever it may go.”

“Um… no… The other son.”

“Oh.” Draco paused, thinking on that. It wasn’t really what he expected, “Well, that does explain his frequent references to Jamie after he came back from holiday… and potentially, his interest in muggle boxing.”

“Boxing?”

“Don’t ask.” He looked at Harry, trying to determine if this was something they should be worried about. “Are you certain? Scorpius had mentioned that he was seeing Blaise Zabini’s son, Carlos.”

“Who knows…. You know how tangled young love can be”

“’ _You_ ’ know, Potter. My love life was pretty cut and dried while we were at school.”

“Although, not so much after…” He gave Draco a look that said, ‘ _We both know full well about that_.’

“Well, in any case,” Draco redirected back to the topic at hand, “I trust Scorpius… Thanks for letting me know, though, I appreciate it.”

“Sure thing. I just didn’t want you thinking I knew something you didn’t.”

Draco smiled. Whatever semi-friendship or working relationship they’d developed recently, it did rely on them agreeing to this odd dance they did.

They sped up so they could catch up with Williams, who’d been waiting for them at the corner, bid their goodbyes to one another, and headed off into the night.

\---

Down the street, Jamie Potter stood waiting on a few classmates. Michael Creevey had been accepted to the Healer Training Programme at St. Mungo’s, and he, along with Ben Abbott, Susan Flint and Dan O’Connor all agreed that the news merited an off-the-books trip to the Hogshead. As he waited, he noticed a group of men meeting at the corner down the street, and was sure one of them was Draco Malfoy. You couldn’t mistake that hair anywhere. As he watched Malfoy he realized the other two were Professor Williams and his dad.

His dad hadn’t mentioned anything about being at school today, and Lily and Al hadn’t mentioned anything either. What was this about? He backed up to a spot where he thought he couldn’t be seen, and waited a bit longer. They seemed to be saying goodbye, then Harry went around toward the Broomsticks, presumably to floo home, and Draco and Williams turned toward Hogwarts. He wasn’t able to follow them, or watch any longer because Creevey, O’Connor, Abbott and Flint arrived, and he was hoping to use this opportunity to get a bit closer to O’Connor. He really wanted to figure out what Dan was up to. He’d just have to ask Al about his Dad it tomorrow.

\-----

Albus wasn’t sure how they were regularly going to make it to Transfiguration on time, given that they were almost always running over time in DADA, and the two classes were at complete opposite ends of the school. So, once again, Albus, Carlos and Scorpius were racing down the halls, dodging students in an effort not to be ridiculously late for McGonagall’s class. They were building up a pretty good head of steam when Albus felt his robes caught on something.

It was Jamie, who had managed to take a fist full of Albus’ robe despite being hemmed in by an uncomfortably close Dan O’Connor. “Merlin, Jamie. What the Hell?”

Albus looked up the hall to see if Scorpius and Carlos had noticed he’d been waylaid. They had, and Scorpius, in particular, had an odd look on his face.

“What do you want? I’m late.” He was trying to wrest back his robe so he could continue on.

“Hey, did you see Dad yesterday or today?”

“No, why?”

“I saw him in Hogsmeade last night.”

“What??” Albus was looking at Jamie, who now was now wearing the face he wore when he was trying not to look supremely irritated. ‘ _Since when did his brother and Dan hang out this much?’_ , he wondered, looking back at Carlos and Scorpius... who was fidgeting with his robe and looking anxious. “I dunno, look I gotta go”

He cut Jamie off and ran to catch up with his impatient friends. He looked back at Jamie, who was then kind of shoving Dan off, and shook his head. From that distance, it struck him that O’Connor had some interesting resemblances to Scorpius… That was weird. And what was his dad doing in Hogsmeade?

Once they settled into their seats in Transfig, Scorpius reached over and tugged on Carlos’ sleeve.

“Hey, I don’t think we’ve talked about it, but do you want to go to the Halloween Dance?”

“Yeah, sure. That sounds great.”

“Good. We’ll talk later about costumes. Maybe we can find some ideas in the library later.”

At overhearing that, Albus shook his head. Only Scorpius would make Halloween costumes into a full-fledged research project. Check that, Rose probably would do that, too.

\-------------------

On weekdays, it took every ounce of effort Albus had to get out of bed in the morning, but on Saturday he had no trouble getting up. That was because Saturday morning was the day of the week he spent working with the Hagrid and the animals and creatures they housed here at Hogwarts. It was his favorite day of the week, every week. He couldn’t wait until he could start dropping some of his required courses so that he could really focus. ‘Albus was for animals – they both started with “a,” after all,’ he thought to himself.

When he got to the stables, he noticed that Phoebe was already there, mucking out the bicorn pens. He had invited her to come, with Hagrid’s ‘okay’ of course, because he thought she’d enjoy it… and it meant they could spend more time together. She loved animals nearly as much as he did, and was actually thrilled when he gave her ‘Pop,’ one of his Doubling Guineas. He made sure to give her the calmest one, with the hope that she wouldn’t be overrun with the little critters. One guinea is nice, 32 guineas is… overwhelming.

They spent most of the morning working in silence, which Albus really appreciated. Other than Scorpius, there really wasn’t anyone Albus could just be with without talking, but Phoebe didn’t seem to need to talk all the time. As they were haying the cockatrice coop, his mind wandered back to his run-in with Jamie the day before… and then Scorpius… He looked in her direction. He wondered if he could, or should, talk about Scorpius with her? Would it bother Scorpius? He really needed someone’s opinion. He just couldn’t think it out himself. So, he cleared his throat and went for it.

“I wish people were as easy to deal with as animals.” He started.

“I know exactly what you mean. I love being here. Even though animals aren’t simple, they can be a lot less confusing than people.” She waited, sensing that Albus had something specific to say

He took another breath, “I think there might be something going on… or maybe something not going on, but something about to go on… or people thinking about something going on…”

Phoebe looked at Albus trying very hard not to laugh as he danced around what he was trying, very purposefully, to get to while not actually having to say out loud.

“Um, or maybe something could go on, or maybe they both would like something to go on… What I mean is…. I think it’s possible that my brother and Scorpius… that they…..” He was really struggling to get it out.

As she watched his face, she realized where he was trying... but failing to go. “They might like each other?” She finished for him.

“Yes. I mean, there’s nothing specific, but it’s just a feeling I get, and Rose thinks, or at least she thought a few weeks ago, that there was definitely something possible. I don’t know… it’s the way they look at each other sometimes, and there was something while we were on holiday, and then for a while it seemed like nothing, but now it seems like it might be something.”

“Well, how do you feel about that?”

“I don’t know. Things have been nice while Scorpius has been with Carlos.”

“Do you think that’s what Scorpius wants?”

“I don’t know… To be honest, he hasn’t really felt like his full Scorpius-y self lately, but then sometimes he does. I just don’t know. I can’t tell… ”

“Well, why don’t you ask him?”

“I don’t know… I think if I do… .”

“That it will make it real.”

“Right.”

“And you don’t want that.”

“Not that I don’t want it - I just don’t know how I feel. What if things don’t work out? What if they end up hating each other?”

“Or what if they fall in love?”

“Right… I don’t know how I feel about that either.”

“Because he’s your best friend.”

Albus hung his head. “I’m horrible.”

“No, you’re not, Albus Potter. You’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Maybe the nicest person I’ve ever met. It’s just… I don’t know, strange to think of things being different.”

She continued, “I know… things just keep changing, like it or not.” Then she walked over and pulled him into a big hug, right there in the coop with the cockatrices roaming around their feet.

He looked down at her and thought about how lucky he was that he had someone so nice to talk with, someone who smelled like apples and hay, and he really wanted to kiss her. So, he tipped up her chin and brought his lips to hers. She pulled close and opened her lips and her tongue tickled Albus’, inviting him to kiss her more deeply. He loved the way she tasted, the way her mouth felt. He let his hands fall to her waist where his fingers slipped under her blouse. Her skin was soft and cool, and he wanted to touch as much of it as he could. His hands moved up and his thumbs stroked along her skin, taking in the velvety feel of it.

She pulled him closer and seemed to hum. It made him hum a little in return. He moved his hands further up, and was stroking her breast just over her bra. It was lacy and smooth, and he could feel the little raised bump of her nipple under his thumb. His other hand moved around her back and pulled her closer, as close as he could. She began to kiss along his jaw and up toward his ear, and when she breathed it felt like a butterfly wing against his ear.

Then, a very Hagridy cough interrupted them.

“I see the romance of the coop has caught the two of you!” his voice was such a boom, it almost threw the two of them backward.

Albus turned a deep, deep red (he was actually nearly plum), and Phoebe made a concerted effort to look elsewhere.

“Yes, um. We were just finishing up…”

“Well, you better be going on, then. I suspect you’ll want to get to lunch, and then head over to the match, isn’t Rose playing today?”

Albus knew Hagrid had virtually no use for Quidditch, but he always seemed to know what every student was up to. It was kind of amazing, actually.

“Yes, um. Well, we’ll see you Monday, then.”

“Monday, it is. Don’t forget to wear clothing you can make a mess of. We’ll be working with flobberworms, and you know how they can get.”

Albus and Phoebe gathered their tools and cleaned up as quickly as they could, trying very much to not look like they’d just been caught in the act. Albus was sure Hagrid wasn’t upset, probably just amused, but he didn’t really want to hang around under Hagrid’s eye much longer.

As they were just finishing, Albus realized he had completely forgotten to ask Phoebe if she’d go to the Halloween Dance with him. He figured it was probably a given, but he knew that people, especially girls, like to be asked.

“Phoebe, I hope I’m not too late, but I was hoping you’d go to the Halloween Dance with me.”

“Oh,” she said, looking surprised and holding a long pause while she watched Albus’ reddening face, “Well…” She managed to continue to hold out for a long time before she burst out laughing. “Of course I will. I even have a great idea for our costumes!”

Albus’ heart started beating again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things just keep stretching out, but it looks like two more chapters until we're at the end of story #1...


	7. It's Not Such A Great Time To Be Scorpius

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things feel like they're unraveling for Scorpius, and the Halloween Dance doesn't end up helping...

Jamie knew he was probably walking into trouble, but he also wasn’t really sure how to get out of it. This was the downside of being “Jamie Potter.” Sometimes it meant you were skirting perilously close to potential disaster. The fact was, he really wasn’t sure why or how he ended up inviting Dan to come participate in Williams’ gym, but he did, and now he regretted it. Williams’ gym was the one place where he got to see Scorpius without any of the other crap; meaning Carlos, Albus, or whatever.... Even though he’d been kind of avoiding Scorp, it just bothered him that he had let the outside world invade this little corner which felt like it belonged to the two of them. So, he felt like an ass, again. Of course, he’d felt that way since last Friday when Scorp saw Dan O’Connor hanging on him like some kind of limpet. And, why was he hanging around with Dan again? Oh, right, because hanging out with him, and figuring out what he and Crabbe were up to, was supposed to help him NOT think about Scorpius. _Good lot that was doing_. Hopefully, he’d be able to maneuver things for minimal damage.

When he and Dan got to the gym, Scorp was already there, and weirdly, Al and Carlos were there, too. Then Jamie remembered they were starting sparring today. Jamie thought that Scorpius would never admit it, probably never think it even to himself, but the little show-off probably wanted an audience. Good. He should. He was good at this. He’d knock their socks off. Jamie was even looking forward to it, Dan or no Dan.

Jamie saw Scorpius look in their direction and he tried to nod hello, but Scorp just kind of shook him off and turned back to his friends. Okay… that wasn’t great. Well, he’d just stay out of the way, then. Really, why did it matter? Scorp was with Carlos now, so what did he care about?

Williams got into the ring to address the students and give them the rules of the road. They’d have 3 minutes: nothing below the belt, they should be focusing on this as a practice method, not as a fight. They should work on breathing, trying to relax, and using the techniques they’d been developing over the past few weeks. They should try to execute a few different types of punches and counter-punches. This was just for experience and conditioning. So, most importantly, no magic.

Yann and Karl got in the ring first. They seemed to be doing okay. Yann looked nice and loose, but Karl started getting tight and frustrated quickly. Yann was getting in some good punches and a couple of jabs and his footwork looked really smooth. Karl was spending most of his time reacting and he was losing his balance a little. His stance wasn’t good. At about two minutes in it was pretty clear that Karl was getting irritated. Even through the head gear you could see him sweating and turning a bit pink. Then he threw a couple of punches low, a bit out of line for some friendly practice, and Williams stepped in.

“Okay, that’s good. Anyone take anything away from that?”

“Maintaining your balance throughout.” Emma offered.

Michael chimed in, “Keeping your mind on your opponent, keeping loose.”

“Or, maybe just not getting your ass kicked” Dan mumbled to Jamie.

Jamie looked at him. Merlin, he could be a prat, and he seemed jumpy, too… really on edge. Jamie never remembered Dan being this twitchy, that’s for sure.

Williams turned, “Okay, who’s next…” he looked around, “Scorpius, how about you?”

“Okay,” Scorpius pulled himself into the ring.

Then Williams looked around again, and out of the side of his eye Jamie could have sworn he saw Dan about to volunteer. What the hell was he thinking? He wasn’t practiced, he’d only been coming for a little over a week, and he wouldn’t be up to it. Hell, no. He’d better head this off before O’Connor got himself knocked unconscious.

“I’ll go,” he volunteered. Scorp looked at him, and he didn’t look happy. This was probably a mistake. He’d just add it to the official list of “Jamie Potter’s Idiotic Ideas.”

Williams brought them to the center, started his watch and gave their fists a push. They were off.

Jamie congratulated himself on the fact that he was right, Scorp did look good. He really was a natural at this. It was a little distracting. In fact, Jamie quickly realized he was seriously on the defense. It was hard to think about himself, his posture, his breathing, keeping his arms and hands in the right spots, keeping loose, and Scorpius at the same time. So, he just settled in to watching Scorpius move and timing his moves to his, matching his advances to Scorp’s retreats. He started to feel like they were dancing, like he could feel the way Scorp might move, when he’d lead and when he’d follow. They were trading punches, but it wasn’t anything heavy, it was good. It felt good. He could have danced like this for hours.

Then, he saw Dan out of the corner of his eye, what was he doing? He seemed to be going over to Carlos and Albus to say something. What the hell? Scorp obviously saw it too, and then in a flash his face changed. He was himself, but also a darker version of himself. Jamie knew this was trouble, and that’s when Scorp’s fist hit him under the chin. After that, it was pretty much a daze. Williams was in the ring separating them. Jamie was just trying to focus on something. Scorp was jumping out of the ring and heading toward the locker room, not talking to anyone.

Once Jamie’s head settled he got out of the ring and went to get some water. Fuck. Then, of course, Dan came over, figuring he’d do the consoling friend routine. Jamie held his glove up, “I’m okay, really. I’m fine.” He didn’t want Dan near him. He wanted to get out of there, but he didn’t want to run into Scorp in the showers, so he just stood there, like the fool he was, in the corner.

He looked over to Al, who was looking at him with an expression that couldn’t mean anything other than _“What the fuck, Jamie?”_

\----

Albus was stunned, What was that? Was that normal? He’d come that afternoon because Scorp suggested it might be fun for Carlos and him to see what he’d been doing at the gym, and he thought he could use the break. He didn’t anticipate that would mean watching his best friend clock his brother, that’s for sure. Not that it killed him to see Jamie getting his butt kicked by Scorpius, that was actually kind of cool, but still, it was not what he expected. Judging by Scorpius’ hasty exit, it wasn’t what Scorpius had planned, either.

“What… what was that?” Albus asked… to no one in particular, but probably to Carlos.

Albus looked over at Carlos who looked back at him with an expression that was somewhere between consideration and concern; like he was mulling over an arithromancy problem in his head.

“They always look like that when they’re together,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Did he mean Dan and his brother, or Scorpius and his brother, or what…?

“Your brother and Scorpius, when they’re together they just flare. They flare up blue.”

“So, what does that mean? From what we just saw, I’m assuming it means they’re angry at each other.” Al asked, wondering how that wasn’t kind of obvious to anyone given what they just watched. People don’t normally punch out people they’re not pissed at… at least in Albus’ world they didn’t.

“It can… Something made Scorpius flare in particular. He did look pretty upset…whatever it is, something’s affecting them…”

Carlos didn’t go any further, and Albus could see that he was holding something back.

Albus turned back to where his brother was standing, looking very much like he was trying to disappear into the corner, and thought that if Jamie was trying not to be involved with Scorpius, he was doing a pretty poor job of it.

\-----

As soon as he was in the locker room, Scorpius jumped in the shower and shot on the cold water. He wanted to freeze the screaming voices in his head out.

What the hell was he doing? He’d never felt like that before. Everything was good, great even, and then in a moment he felt like he was trapped in a heavy blackness again… Then he hit Jamie, too hard. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. It was kind of like that night at the seaside, but not exactly… and a little like last year…It was instinct and emotion, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like the way he felt at all. He hated it.

As he scrubbed his skin to try to drive out his thoughts he noticed something on the inside of his forearm, some kind of dark smudgy spot. That definitely hadn’t been there before. What the hell was that? One thought came first, and more than anything in the world he wanted to be wrong.

\-------------

More than twenty-four hours had passed since the incident in the gym, and Scorpius still hadn’t really talked to anyone about it. Albus lay in his bed and looked over at his best friend. He didn’t know what to say. Something was really eating at Scorpius, something more than just having hit Jamie harder than he should have. It shouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but for some reason it was… and they all knew it; Scorpius running out of that room and into the showers, Jamie trying to dissolve into the corner, Carlos holding something back. Scorpius had even kind of blown off Professor Williams when he tried to talk to him at the end of class today. He just wasn’t himself. Not at all. Albus hoped it wasn’t something bad, that Carlos hadn’t seen something awful coming. It couldn’t be. Albus just wouldn’t believe it.

“Scorpius, are you awake?”

Scorpius wasn’t moving, but Albus was sure he was awake. He knew the difference between the way Scorpius sounded when he was awake and when he was asleep.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I promise, it’s not as terrible as you think.” He tried to console him, but he didn’t know how. He didn’t know what was wrong.

“Maybe we can talk tomorrow?”

Then he rolled over and hoped that when the sun came up tomorrow, things would be a little better.

\--------------

Albus woke up to screaming. Scorpius was screaming. Shit, nightmares again. He thought those were gone. As far as he knew, he hadn’t had one in at least nine months. He really hoped they weren’t kicking up again, because the first six weeks after the Time-Turner incident were pretty awful.

Albus climbed out of his bed and into Scorpius’. He wrapped him in his arms and whispered to his back. “I’m here. I’m always going to be here. Always.” and he knew it was true to the bottom of his heart.

\--------------

The next morning Albus woke up, and Scorpius was lying next to him and staring at him.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I climbed in your bed.” Albus explained “You had a nightmare.”

“I know, I remember.”

“I thought those were done?”

“Me too.”

“Was it the same?”

“Not really, but bad.” Scorpius breathed in a long breath, “Albus, there’s something I need to show you.”

“What is it?”

Scorpius pulled out his arm and showed Albus the little smudgy spot on his arm.

“What’s that?” Albus asked.

“I don’t know, it just showed up yesterday.”

“Do you think you should get Madam Pomfrey or Victoire to look at it?”

“I don’t know….” Then, he continued, “Do you think it could be… some kind of a Dark Mark?”

Albus was completely taken aback. “What? On you? No… I’d never even. That’s not even possible.”

“But the other day in the gym, when it happened, with Jamie. I was so angry. I wasn’t myself. I didn’t even feel like myself. I mean, what if it is? What if it’s my future or something?”

“That’s just not possible. How long have I known you?... There is no one on this Earth who is less likely…”

“But my dad, and my grandparents, my families…”

“I don’t care. That’s just…..It’s not.” Albus was firm, adamant. “ _Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, you are in no way marked for evil. Never_.”

Scorpius breathed a deep breath, trying to absorb the possibility that Albus was right and that he was just jumping assuming the worst. Albus just didn’t know how bad it was in that world where Scorpius, where the world was evil. It was the worse than anything he could ever imagine.

“Look. I’ll keep an eye on you, and if you start to look or act like something’s wrong, I’ll do something. I’m your insurance, okay?” The idea seemed ridiculous to Albus, but he figured he needed to do something to get Scorpius out of this mood. Besides, he would always have Scorpius’ back. So, if anything ever was going awry with him, he would help him. His promise was fundamentally true.

Scorpius wasn’t convinced, but he just shrugged. Albus took that as at least acceptance for the moment.

“Okay, so will you get up? The dance is tonight, and Carlos will be really disappointed if he has to go without you.”

Scorpius nodded. He was getting up.

\------

Thanks to Albus’ prodding, Scorpius made it through the day and he was actually starting to look forward to the dance. Maybe the dancing and noise and people would help him get his mind off things. It couldn’t hurt.

He was looking at the pile of materials he and Carlos had pulled together for their costumes. It was the first year he and Albus hadn’t developed their costumes together and it felt a little strange, but he was pretty happy with what he and Carlos had come up with. He had no idea what Albus and Phoebe had cooked up. They had insisted on, and maintained, complete secrecy around their choice. It was all kind of silly, but a little silly right now might just do the trick.

When they got to the Great Hall it was filled with music and students. As usual, the hall was adorned with all kinds of amazing decorations, luminous skeletons, flaming headless horsemen, glowing ghosts, strobing goblins, and blinking spiders, which were dancing high in the air like animated lighting that moved to the music. The food and beverage tables were heaped with all kinds of treats, and that brought a smile to Scorpius’ face. There were ice mice, cockroach clusters, jelly slugs, and pepper imps (Scorpius’ personal favorite), as well as cauldron cakes, screaming biscuits and a number of other goodies. There were also huge cauldrons of some kind of punch that boiled and roiled purple and green. The punch actually looked surprisingly tasty considering the color combination.

Scorpius looked around the room to see if he could spot Albus and Phoebe. He caught sight of Rose, who was there as Artimessa Lufkin, because of course Rose would take this opportunity to kiss up to her mother, even if at a distance. He saw Rose standing next to Aishah Spenser who had come as a Sorting Hat. Then, he could have sworn he saw Lily with someone who looked like MacAdam Martin. Of course Lily had found a 4th year to get her into the dance.

“Hey, I see Rose and Aisha,” Scorpius pulled on Carlos, “Let’s go say ‘hi’”

By the time they made their way to Rose, Lily and her date, who was dressed as one of several ‘Nearly Headless Nicks’ in attendance that evening, were there, too, chatting with Rose and Aishah.

Rose looked at them, “Very nice…. Wendelin the Weird… both of you!” She laughed.

“Your costumes are great, too.” Carlos replied.

“What are you, Lily?” Scorpius asked.

“I’m a flutterby bush!” she answered, giving a little shake for illustration.

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Scorpius heard Albus groan from behind.

He turned around and there were Albus and Phoebe, beaming in their matching costumes.

“So, then, what are you?” Lily challenged.

“We’re blast-ended skrewts!” They chimed in unison.

Scorpius thought it was ridiculously cute and dorky, potentially even borderline embarrassing, but Albus seemed to be enjoying it.

They all started chatting and dancing, and Scorpius was loosening up and starting to have a good time. He also noticed that someone had obviously spiked the punch because he had a definite buzz going.

Eventually, it happened, though. Jamie showed up, and so did Dan O’Connor. Dan, not very inventively, was also there as one of the many “Nearly Headless Nicks”.

“Hey there” Jamie said, bumping into Albus.

“Hey,…. So, what are you?” Albus asked, looking at Jamie who was dressed in something all shiny and silvery with some kind of frame outline he’d cast with a spell.

“Isn’t it obvious, I’m the Mirror of Erised!...” He looked around, with his eyes catching Scorpius’, “I’m your heart’s desire.”

Scorpius’ stomach clenched.

“Merlin, Jamie, do you ever give it a rest?” Albus answered. “I mean ever?”

“I think it’s perfect” Dan chimed in.

_Of course you do_ , Scorpius thought to himself, growing irritated.

Jamie and Dan started to head off, and as Jamie walked by Scorpius and Carlos he said to Carlos, “You know, you should look out for this guy… you could get stung.”

Carlos looked at Scorpius with kind of an odd expression, and that just did it for Scorpius. The next thing he knew he was following Jamie, pushing him on the shoulder.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Jamie turned to look at Scorpius, who was definitely agitated at this point.

“I was just…”

“Just what?”

“You know, maybe we should do this somewhere else.” He said with his hand on his head.

“Do what? What do you mean?” he asked, following Jamie out the front doors of the Hall and into the hallway.

“Just say it, if you have something to say.”

“What do you want me to say?” Jamie was yelling back now and holding his head.

“Merlin, Jamie. I don’t understand you. I don’t understand what’s going on…. What is this? And Thursday….I don’t know who I am anymore.” He was trying to reconcile his emotions and his anger at himself, and the feelings that were growing in him that very moment, all the thoughts that were screaming in his head. “Why did you bring that guy to the gym? What is he doing there?”

Scorpius was really getting upset now. All the emotion and confusion of the past few weeks was pouring from him, and he seemed to be getting less and less of a response from Jamie, who was pacing in circles and holding his head.

“Jamie, listen to me.” he was trying to push the important thing to the front.

Jamie’s head was just swimming, and he was having trouble focusing. In an effort to get things under control, he pushed Scorpius up against the wall and trapped there between his two arms, his hands planted on either side of Scorpius’ shoulders. He still had his eyes closed and he was shaking his head back and forth, trying to focus on something. Everything was just so murky..

“I hurt you.” Scorpius whispered… trying to offer some kind of apology.

But Jamie burst out at the same time, “Merlin, Scorpius. Just stop…. Just stop… Oh, why can’t I think…?”

And then Jamie opened his eyes, and Scorpius saw in them things that he never thought he’d see there, uncertainty and fear.

Scorpius had a flash of a thought, and then Jamie had his hand behind Scorpius’ neck and was pulling him forward and kissing him, hard. His lips were just crashing in on Scorpius’, and Scorpius was kissing him back. Their lips and tongues were just grasping for anything. Scorpius couldn’t breathe. He’d forgotten to breathe. He couldn’t think. It felt like everything had stopped. There was just need. He felt a huge open space inside himself that Jamie was just flowing into, as if he was some essential requirement for Scorpius’ survival, like air or food or water. He was something Scorpius had to have, but no matter how much he took in he would still want more, need more.

His whole body was filled with need and want… His arms wrapped around Jamie's waist and he pressed himself up against Jamie who was pulling him tighter still. He could feel the pounding of Jamie’s heart. Every thought emptied from his mind. It was all just feel. Jamie’s hands were gripping the back of his neck and pulling in his hair, and Scorpius was grasping at Jamie’s shirt, searching for his skin. Then he broke through and his hands were on Jamie’s back, and he could feel Jamie react to his touch. He could feel Jamie hard up against his hip. They were both so hard, and Scorpius pushed himself against Jamie, wanting more and more. This should never end.

Jamie’s lips moved to Scorpius’ cheek, and then his tongue played up around his ear and then down his neck. Scorpius could feel his breath skim across his skin, and when he said his name, “Scorpius,” it sounded weak and desperate, like a plea.

That sound, the sound of his name shocked Scorpius back into consciousness.

What was he doing? Carlos was just in the Great Hall next door. He shouldn’t be doing this. He pushed himself back.

“Jamie, stop…” His arms felt weak. He could barely hold himself away from Jamie. He wanted him so much… it would be so easy.

“No” he said, talking to himself and maybe to Jamie… “What are you doing? You shouldn’t…. Carlos… he’s just inside…. Carlos.. and Albus…”

Jamie looked at him. His eyes looked like the void of want and confusion Scorpius could feel inside himself.

“I’m sorry…. Scorp, I’m so sorry….”

As Jamie disappeared down the hallway, Scorpius wondered which thing he was sorry about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is essentially done, I just need to run through it again... So, the end is in sight...


	8. Seeing Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The night of the Halloween Dance isn't quite over... then Scorpius gets into the ring again... and Albus confronts Jamie... then the stars come out.
> 
> NOTE: There's some more specific description of sexual activity in this chapter, so be forewarned if you're not comfortable with that.

Scorpius stood in the hallway for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. He couldn’t just leave Carlos hanging in the dance, and truthfully, he was so keyed up he needed to try to get some of the energy that was coursing through his body under control. Maybe he just needed to move and not talk. So he turned and went back inside.

“Hey, wanna dance?” he asked, pulling Carlos over to the dance floor.

“Sure, are you okay?” Carlos asked “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t know, but I can’t do anything about it right now… Can we just dance?”

So they danced, and they had more to drink. Eventually, they had danced and drunk enough that Scorpius was nearly feeling like he’d pushed the thoughts of Jamie, and his mark, and everything out of his head. He was just dancing with Carlos, and it felt pretty good.

When people started filtering out, Carlos and Scorpius headed back to the Slytherin dungeon. But when they got to their rooms, Scorpius just wasn’t ready to settle down. He still had so much energy, and the idea of lying down and letting all the thoughts in his head back inside to hound him was more than he could take. Before he even really decided what to do, he had pushed Carlos into a corner in Carlos’ hall and kissed him, and Carlos kissed back, and the haze in their minds from the music and the drinking and all their energy just began to propel them along. Carlos pulled Scorpius into his room.

“Yann’s not coming back.” He said.

Scorpius just let momentum take over, and one thing tumbled into the next. They were in Carlos’ room and Scorpius was pulling Carlos’ shirt off and then his own. Then they fell onto Carlos’ bed, their hands were everywhere. Scorpius was kissing Carlos, and pulling at him. His hands were teasing Carlos over his pants, and then he was pulling Carlos’ pants off and Carlos was helping him. Then his own came off, they were naked. And everything just kept happening. He wasn’t thinking and he was happy not to think. At that moment, he needed to not think, and Carlos was there and not thinking, too.

He had his hand on Carlos’ cock, and his fingers were gliding over his balls and stroking down Carlos’ shaft, and then he was thinking about Jamie, and also about not thinking about Jamie, and all he wanted to do was feel. Carlos was rubbing him, too, and it felt so good. He was hard, he just wanted more. Then he was on top of Carlos, and they were rubbing together, grinding. He was pushing against him, and Carlos was pushing back, building a rhythm. He can feel his dick rubbing up against Carlos’. He feels the soft hair where his cock is rubbing against Carlos’ stomach, and thought about Jamie’s body, and the trail of hair that runs down from his navel. He was pushing harder and harder, just about to come. Merlin. _Damn it, Jamie. Damn it._ He was pushing against Carlos, and Carlos had his hand around both their dicks, and they were pushing in together, Then he felt the wetness from Carlos’ cum, and he was coming, too, and again, and again, and then he was done.

It was over. He rolled off Carlos, and lay there beside him, staring up at the green drapery of Carlos’ four-poster, saying nothing, just letting the world spin and slow down. Carlos was silent, too.

Eventually, it was Carlos who broke the silence, “You didn’t really want to do that, did you?”

That comment caught Scorpius off-guard, “What? No, I… What do you mean? You didn’t… I mean….I did…”

“No… I mean… that wasn’t really about us, was it?”

“Oh.” Scorpius stopped. He wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“It’s okay….” Carlos continued, “I mean, I didn’t _not_ want to… but I’m not really sure why I did, either.”

“Oh… uh…. that’s not so good.” Scorpius looked at him wondering what they were really doing.

Carlos turned his head to look at Scorpius, who was kind of propped up on his elbow. The he kind of laughed, “I dunno, it felt pretty good, though.”

Scorpius flopped back on the bed, “Yeah, it did actually feel great.”

“But that doesn’t really change things does, it?”

“No, I guess not.”

"So, what now?”

“I don’t know…” then Carlos continued, “You know… it’s okay if you don’t really want to do this anymore.”

“Oh”

“I mean….” Carlos started and paused, searching for what he was going to say, “It’s not like I really, really wanted to be your boyfriend.”

“What?” Scorpius was really confused now. What were they doing, then? “So, how’d we end up here?” he wondered, motioning to them, lying naked in the bed.

“I just wanted to be friends…. And then when you hit on me I figured, well, why not?”

Oh Merlin, he was right. Scorpius initiated this that night at the Three Broomsticks, and Scorpius was the reason this was going on. “Oh, you’re right… I forgot about that….” he paused, and then continued, “I’m awful. I am a total prat.”

“No,” Carlos laughed, “You’re just… I mean, I’m here, too, you know.”

“Well, what now?”

Carlos paused, then “Do you think we could we still be friends? ….Would that be weird?”

“You want to? I mean, if you want to, yeah, I want to… yes.” Scorpius still had the feeling like he didn’t have many friends, and he really did like Carlos… it was just pretty obvious to both of them now that they weren’t ‘ _boyfriends forever_ ’ material.

Then Scorpius was wondering, “Can I ask you… why were you staring at me in class, then?”

Carlos looked embarrassed. “Oh, I’m sorry about that. I didn’t realize I was being so obvious. It’s just… I wasn’t staring at you. I was looking at you and Albus.”

“Oh,” Scorpius was starting to blush with confusion, “So, you were interested in Albus??”

“Merlin, No! I mean.... Um, well, you know how I’m basically acing Divination, right?”

“Sure, Ghazali loves you.”

“Right, so… well, there’s a reason for that. I’m not just good at the mumbo jumbo b-s that Divination instructors seem to like.”

“Oh,” Scorpius propped himself back up using one of Carlos’ pillows so he could look at Carlos.

“Yeah, I see things… Specifically, I see auras. I get a sense of people with their auras. I can also get a feel about things that will happen, but auras all the time.”

“That must be weird…. But why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Well, it gets weird with people once they know. They don’t know how to take things, or they want to know things they shouldn’t want to know.”

“So, what was it about me and Albus that you were looking at?”

“You have this thing. When you’re near each other your auras connect. It’s like a little pod, kind of. I don’t really know how to describe it, but you just seem to share a wavelength when you’re together.”

Scorpius considered that. He liked it, “That’s kind of cool. What’s it look like?”

“You’re sort of red together, very low wavelength. You’re very calm.”

Scorpius nodded. That made sense. Albus did make him feel calm and secure, and, aside from when he was with his dad, there was no place that he felt like he belonged like he did when he was with Albus. Then, he wanted to know more, “So, what about me, alone. How do I look then?”

“You’re yellow – kind of a golden color.” He answered.

“So, a little more highly strung.”

“Well, I don’t know if I’d say that… it’s a nice color… Maybe a little more energetic?… It’s not exactly like that, but you have a higher wavelength.”

Scorpius thought about that.

Carlos added, “You should probably know that when you’re with Jamie Potter, you both sort of spark blue.”

Scorpius didn’t really need to know that.

\--------------

The next morning Scorpius woke up with a pounding headache and a disturbingly clear memory of everything that happened the evening before. He would have thought that with the amount he drank it would have helped blur some of the memory, but it hadn’t. He had kissed Jamie and then more or less shagged Carlos. He pulled his arm out from under his pillow to take a look at it. Yup, still there. Not really any different, but still definitely there.

‘ _Who the hell are you Scorpius Malfoy?_ ’ he asked himself. There was no way the Scorpius of a year ago, even the Scorpius of six months ago would have done these things. But they just sort of seemed to have happened. Maybe that’s how it happened, you didn’t really make a choice you just sort of slid from one person to the other.

Albus walked from the bathroom back into their room.

“You’re awake.” He wasn’t shouting, but it seemed like a shout to Scorpius, who just kind of shrugged.

“I’m amazed. You got in a bit late. You had a good time?” The upward inflection in Albus’ voice implied that he thought the answer to that question was yes.

“Um… I’m not feeling so great, actually.”

“That’ll happen…. Want me to bring you something back from breakfast?”

The idea of food did absolutely nothing for Scorpius, but he probably should have Albus bring something so that he didn’t starve before lunch.

“Yeah, something plain. Maybe toast?” Then he realized that he hadn’t even asked Albus about his night… that figured. “How was your night? Did you have fun?”

“Yeah.” He plopped himself down on his bed, sitting so he could look at Scorpius “It was really great.”

“I’m glad Albus. You looked really great.” Albus smiled at Scorpius, and that felt good.

Albus reached over and patted Scorpius on the head, “Get some more sleep. I’ll see you later.”

\-------------

Scorpius managed to lay low for the better part of a week before Albus caught on to what was happening. It was all made easier by the fact that Williams had cancelled gym on Wednesday, and that Quidditch was on hiatus through the end of the term, but by Friday it was pretty clear that Scorpius was avoiding most contact with most people. He was barely speaking to anyone in classes with the exception of brief discussions with Carlos and Rose, and he had firmly avoided the gym. When he was in the library he was holed up in a remote corner, and when he was in the Dungeon he was in their room.

On Friday Albus cornered Scorpius in their room before dinner.

“Is something wrong?”

“Not really, why?” Scorpius answered.

“Well, you just don’t seem like yourself. Is it the mark? I thought you weren’t going to worry about that?”

“No, it’s not really that.” Scorpius explained, “I’m just trying to get a handle on my classes, and a little tired, I think.”

Okay, this was going nowhere. Albus tried another approach, “Do you want to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow? Carlos, Phoebe and I were talking about heading in. Maybe doing a little early Christmas shopping, and grabbing something to eat?” Albus thought that if he could get Scorpius out and about maybe his mood would improve.

“I don’t know. I have a lot of studying to do.”

Crap.

\--------------

On Saturday afternoon, Albus found Scorpius in the library and gave him a box of sweets he found for him at Honeydukes.

“Thanks,” Scorpius said, but Albus noticed Scorpius didn’t open them, just set them aside on the table.

“Hey, we’re having game night tonight in the Common Room. Are you up for it? Magical Trivia… You know you’re the expert at the History of Magic questions.”

“Maybe.”

The sad thing was, that ‘maybe’ was the best response Albus had gotten from Scorpius all week.

\---------------

When Albus got back to the Dungeon after his trip to the library, Professor Williams was sitting in the Common Room reading. Albus looked at him, trying to decide if he was going to talk with him or not, but Williams decided for him.

“Albus, is there something you want to talk about?”

“Well…maybe…I guess so.” He wanted to talk, but he was also afraid of what he’d say if he got started. He felt like there were so many things waiting to tumble out that if he opened his mouth everything would just spill out in a big, horrible mess.

“Why don’t we talk in my library?” Williams offered.

So they moved to the library and both found seats. Albus was kicking his feet around on the floor and kneading his fingers, and Williams just waited.

“It’s Scorpius,” he started, “He’s just… all week he’s been hiding, and I don’t know what’s wrong with him, and I think he might think he’s evil, and I’m trying everything I can think of, and he doesn’t want to talk to me, and he doesn’t want to eat, and he doesn’t even want sweets.”and finally, really quietly because his throat was starting to close up, “And, he really likes sweets.”

When Albus looked up at Williams his eyes were glistening with unspilt tears. He’d been holding this worry in for so many days now, and he just needed so badly for someone to share a little bit of it.

“Oh, I see.” Williams started, “So, let’s start with the most alarming thing. He thinks he might be evil? Why’s that?” Whatever the professor thought of that idea, he expressed nothing but genuine concern for Albus’ worry.

“Well, after that fight last Thursday he noticed that he has a smudge on his arm…. Like a mark… And he thinks that it might be dark mark, or something like that, because of his dad and his grandparents…. I told him it was ridiculous. I’ve known him since we were eleven. He changed the whole world for me once. He’d never be evil. Really, _never_. I tried to tell him”

“But it didn’t work?”

“I thought it did. He seemed to have a good time at the dance last weekend, but since then he’s been … not himself.”

“I see,” Williams thought about it a bit and then continued, “Look, I’m not sure what we can do about this, but I’ll see if I can talk with him. And, let’s both keep an eye on him, and if you see anything more, or if I do, we’ll alert his dad. I know that he’d want to know if Scorpius was in trouble.” Williams hoped he was putting Albus’ mind at ease, “I’m glad we talked, Albus, even if you don’t have anything specific to talk about, I’m here. Okay? Any time.”

“Thanks.” Albus said as he got up to leave the room.

As soon as Albus left, Williams got up to write a note to Draco. He knew this was probably something that would pass, but he also knew that Draco would want to know about this. So, he parsed things as carefully as he could to try to avoid alarm and an unexpected visit, and sent the note off with his Barred Owl, Houdini.

\-------------

On Sunday, Williams spotted Scorpius at lunch and spoke with him.

“Scorpius, I need you to come see me at the gym this afternoon. 3 PM should be good.”

“Oh, um, well…. I need to study for History of Magic, is it required?”

“It’s not a request, Malfoy. I’ll see you at 3. Be dressed to work out”

Like it or not, Scorpius was going to talk with him, Williams thought to himself. Now he just had to figure out what he was going to do with him when he got him there.

\--------------

When Williams got to the gym that afternoon he looked around. He really didn’t know what he was going to say to Scorpius, but he needed to do something to get the kid out of the funk he was in. This wasn’t tolerable, and he couldn’t have Scorpius, or really any his students, one of his Slytherins, but particularly Scorpius, thinking that he was marked for evil. He already had enough problems with the kids in the House who took pride in the dubious Slytherin reputation.

By the time Scorpius showed up, promptly at 3, Williams was relieved to note, he had the ring set up. He figured the quickest way to solve the problem was for them to return to the ‘scene of the crime’ so to speak.

“Hey there, ready to go?”

“I guess so,” Scorpius mumbled.

“Okay, then get your gloves on,” he helped Scorpius with his gloves and pulled on a pair of mitts. They’d do some drills and get the kid loosened up.

Williams started Scorpius going, giving him some tips, correcting some things, but mostly letting Scorpius work it out. Scorpius had so much skill, but everything was still so raw. He’d spent the first 15 years of his life Iiving entirely in his head, and it was going to take some time to help him discipline the link between his mind and body. As Scorpius loosened up, Williams could feel it, the emotion starting to surface. He was really starting to pop now, but also loose some focus, he was getting sloppy as he lost some of his mental balance.

“Okay, you’re doing good, but you need to take some breaths now, try to settle your mind a bit.”

Scorpius nodded, and tried to do as Williams instructed, but he was struggling a little.

“Can you think of a mental image that will help you focus. Something calm?”

Scorpius searched his mind, and thought back to the night on the beach when he and Albus were on holiday. Being with Albus, looking at the stars. Those things made him calm. He thought about them, and he could feel his breathing slowing, like he was coming back in to himself. It felt pretty good.

They kept at it for another half hour, with Williams pushing him, and Scorpius working to come back, focusing on his calm place. Over, and over they worked on it, and by the end Scorpius was tired and feeling a bit better.

“I think we’re done for now, okay?” Williams finished things up “Before you go, though, if something happens again like it did the other day, you need to talk with me. You can’t shrug it off or ignore it. You’re not going to get better or move past this stuff on your own. That’s why I’m here. Got that?” He was looking Scorpius in the eyes now, looking for a confirmation.

“Yes.” Scorpius was looking back, “I’m sorry about that. I just…. It just wasn’t something I was prepared for.”

“I know, and when you’re learning something new, sometimes you get to points where you’re going to encounter things like that. You need to know you can reach out to people. Not just to Albus, but to me, your father, your friends, or other teachers, too, okay?”

“Okay….. I will. Really, I will.”

“Okay. Why don’t we meet up again tomorrow afternoon. I know you don’t have Quidditch.” and, he thought, keeping you showing up here will keep you somewhere I can see you at least twice a day.

\-------------

By the next week, Scorpius was looking more like himself. Albus was relieved to feel like he had his best friend back, but he still felt a little like he needed to be vigilant. Even though things had obviously cooled between Scorpius and Carlos, he’d recruited Carlos to the task, too, and had himself, Carlos and Phoebe all keeping their eyes peeled for any sense of trouble.

Scorpius had gone to the gym to work out with Williams every afternoon, and when Thursday rolled around, Williams asked him if he was ready to get back in the ring. He needed to get back on the horse, so to speak, and the sooner the better.

Scorpius brought Carlos with him that evening, because he thought he could use the moral support, but he also didn’t want someone as invested, and worried, as he knew Albus would be. He trusted Carlos to be there, but not be ‘too’ there, as if that made any sense at all. As Scorpius warmed up he realized with a bit of relief that Jamie and Dan weren’t there. Williams didn’t make him step in right away, but had a couple of other pairs go before. He could see that everyone was getting a little better, and was thinking about what he might want to work on when he had his turn. He was lined up to spar with Michael Creevey, but before he could go in he noticed Dan O’Connor talking with Williams, who was nodding.

 _Shit_. Scorpius thought. I do not want to get in the ring with Dan. Scorpius looked around, and still didn’t see Jamie. Apparently, he hadn’t come with Dan, and Scorpius hoped that would help him focus. He just figured he’d think about something else, just focus on himself and get in his calm zone.

They climbed in the ring and Williams started them. It was going okay. Scorpius wasn’t going hard at Dan, and Dan wasn’t much of a challenge for Scorpius. So, Scorpius just figured this would be a good ‘ice breaker’ for him. He’d just work through the three minutes, getting some light punching in and working on his footwork. Then, Dan started to take things up a notch. Scorpius stayed calm and was just defending himself and moving himself out of trouble. Everything was still good. Then Dan pushed it further,, and Scorpius was really stretching to keep in his zone. Finally, Williams signaled the 3 minutes, and Scorpius was ready to go when he saw something coming at him. It was Dan, he was going right at Scorpius’ head. Scorpius’ gloves weren’t even up, and Dan got in one really hard punch before he knew what had happened. Scorpius heard his nose crack and then just reacted. Dan was thrown pretty hard onto the ropes, and everyone realized it wasn’t a punch. Scorp had pushed him with his mind - wandless magic.

Scorpius just standing there dazed, hanging on to the ropes with his nose throbbing and the metallic taste of blood on his lips. Carlos was grabbing at him, “Scorpius, we need to take you to the infirmary.” He looked around. Jamie was there, standing next to Dan and looking at him. Great. When had he arrived? That was all he needed.

When they got to the infirmary Scorpius was put in one room and Dan in another. Scorpius could see people roaming around. Madame Pomfrey, Victoire, Carlos, Williams, Jamie, then Albus and Phoebe showed up. Albus looked really worried.

Victoire, Albus and Jamie’s cousin who was doing one of her healer training rotations at Hogwarts, came in to take a look at him. She held up his face and looked back and forth. “That’s a pretty nice break you have there, Scorpius Malfoy, but it’s nothing to really worry about. I’ll get this back in place, and we have some cream for you to work on the swelling and ensure it heals correctly. You won’t even notice anything happened in a couple of days. You’ll be just as beautiful as you were when you woke up this morning.” she said with a wink and a smile.

Setting his nose hurt a little, but it was over quickly and then Victoire was out and off to see some of the other patients. Then Albus, Carlos and Phoebe came in.

“Carlos told us what happened. What the hell’s up with Dan? Did he really just punch you? Did you really throw him across the ring?” Question after question flew at him. He did his best to answer, but his head really kind of hurt.

Then Albus saw Jamie outside, and went outside to talk with him. Scorpius could see Albus was upset, and he hoped things didn’t blow up between them.

\------------

“Hey.” Albus called at Jamie. “Hey, we need to talk.”

Jamie looked around, it was clear he wasn’t getting out of this. There was nowhere to go. He was trapped in a snare he constructed.

So he followed Albus around the corner to a spot that was a little more private.

“What the hell is going on?” Albus demanded. He was really hot. Jamie didn’t remember seeing Al this angry ever. “What are you doing? I mean, who is this asshole who hit Scorpius? This is who you’re friends with? Why the hell are you even hanging out with this guy?”

Jamie didn’t even know where to start, he was going to just tell him something… Something to make some excuse for what was going on, but then he couldn’t. For some reason he just couldn’t come up with his regular song and dance that created some plausible story that meshed with the world’s image of “Jamie Potter.” So, instead he mumbled, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know????” Albus was stunned. “You don’t know? You don’t know why you’re hanging out with the kind of person who’d assault Scorpius? Someone who’s not just my friend, but someone I thought you liked.. and I mean really like, Jamie, not just as a pal like. Don’t think we all haven’t noticed. What is wrong with you? I mean you can be a real prat sometimes, but this is just… For Merlin’s sake _, Scorpius! He hurt Scorpius!_ And now Scorp might be in trouble, too.”

“I know.” Jamie couldn’t get himself to form anything more than single syllable words.

“You know…” Albus was just shaking with rage, and barely stopped for a breath, “No, Jamie, I don’t think you do know. I don’t think you have the tiniest idea. He’s my best friend in the world. We care about each other. _He matters_. I don’t know if there’s a person in the world who matters to you other than “Jamie Potter!”

That’s when Jamie just snapped.

“DO YOU THINK IT’S EASY? DO YOU THINK YOU’RE THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD WHO’S HARRY POTTER’S SON? DO YOU? Do you think I like it that everyone in the world, everyone at this school decided who I was before I even got here? That they all always assume, that even you assume, every day of my life is just sunshine and perfection? That I’m just always on top of the world? That the world just bows to my will? That everyone, including you, believes every fucking stereotype about me? FUCK YOU, ALBUS. Did it ever once cross your mind that maybe I’m just as trapped in this as you? That maybe I went along with all of this because everyone expected it? I’m the oldest. I’m supposed to look like everything’s okay. Like I’m in control of everything, that I’ve got it all covered. But you know what? I don’t. I FUCKING DON'T. So, please just stop assuming that just because everything looks okay that it is. I’m just good at doing my job, that’s all. I’m an expert at keeping everyone happy by playing my part.”

Albus was silent. He didn’t know what to say. Jamie was right. He never had thought about the fact that everything he hated, Jamie had to deal with, too. Jamie always just made it look easy, like he loved it. Always.

“Why didn’t you ever say anything? I mean to me, or to your friends?” Albus asked.

“And which friends would that be, Al? Think about it. The person who I really can talk to is Teddy, and he’s thousands of miles away chasing dragons with Uncle Charlie. My friends here, it’s not like they’re not nice, I mean I do like them, but they don’t want to hear my shit. They don’t want to know that I’m not fun and sunshine and whatever… And, even our family… Who am I really going to talk to?”

It was true. Albus thought about their family, and Jamie’s friends and it was always just smiles and laughter, that’s what everyone expected. He didn’t really have a best friend. He definitely didn’t have anyone like Scorpius.

“But you could talk with someone. You could at least try” Albus tried.

“I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“Oh….”… then Al brought it up “And what about Scorpius?”

“I’m afraid… I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

Harry Potter’s sons just stood there together, not knowing what to do next.

\-------------  
  
By the time Albus got back into Scorpius’ room, Professor Williams was in there.

“Guys, do you mind if I talk with Scorpius alone for a moment?”

“Is he in trouble?” Albus and Carlos asked.

“No… He’s not. I just want to talk with him about what happened.”

“Okay… Scorpius, we’ll be right outside, okay?”

Once the three had left the room, Williams started “I’m sorry about that.”

“About what?” Scorpius asked.

“About letting Dan get in the ring with you. He wasn’t prepared. He shouldn’t have been matched up with you.”

“It’s okay.”

“Not really, but you need to know that it’s on me. What happened back there… Also, we need to talk about the push.”

“Yeah.”

“So, has that ever happened before?”

“I don’t think so, but I don’t really know. It could have, I guess. Do you think that’s what happened with Jamie?”

“It’s possible, this kind of thing tends to start small before you notice it. O’Connor probably just forced it to come on suddenly.”

“So, what now?”

“Well, we’ll need to work on it a bit to help you learn how to control things. Are you up for that?”

“Do I really have a choice? I can’t really go around shoving people into things, can I?”

That gave Williams a little bit of a chuckle, “No, I guess not. We’ll talk about it later, when you’re out of here and up for it, okay?”

“Okay…. Thanks Professor Williams.”

“You know what Scorpius, why don’t you call me Lin when we’re not in the classroom, okay?”

“Okay...” he paused, about to ask something else “Do you think… do you think this could be a problem?”

“In what way?”

“Well, do you think that it could be the start of something bad? That a person can start to become bad when they have this?”

“No, definitely not. First, I can do wandless magic, you’ve seen it. Second, people don’t change their fundamental nature because of their magical powers. They use their magical powers to express their fundamental nature. You’re a fundamentally good person, Scorpius. You know that.”

Scorpius thought about it. He still wasn’t completely sold, but… “Okay. Can you send Victoire in here before you send Albus and the others back in? I need to see her.”

“Sure. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Yup”

Victoire showed up in less than a minute, and Scorpius got straight to business.

“I need you to look at something and be honest with me, okay?”

“Okay, what is it?” She asked.

Scorpius showed her his arm. “What do you make of that?”

“I don’t know.. it could be a lot of things. It looks like some kind of magical mark, but if you’re concerned that it’s something else I could do some tests.”

Scorpius shook his head, “Do you think it’s a dark mark?”

“Oh,” she paused, looking at him “I don’t think so.” then added, “You know, it could be the start of a soul mark. Not all magical markings are bad, you know. There are lots of different types.”

“Oh,” Scorpius hadn’t thought of that. He looked at the smudgy spot again. What if it was a soul mark? He couldn’t find the space in his head to balance those two possibilities. He’d just have to live with them both and see what developed… literally. The pun made him smile to himself.

\-------------

They let Scorpius out of the infirmary later that evening, but allowed him to be able to take his meals in his rooms in the Dungeon for a couple of days if he wasn’t up to dealing with people just yet. McGonagall was not pleased by the whole thing, and not pleased meant borderline furious in her silent, stern, McGongall way. She suspended the gym for the remainder of the term, and wouldn’t say if she’d permit it to start up again after the holidays.

Draco was summoned, too, and came early Friday morning to see his son. Albus was leaving for breakfast when he saw Draco arriving at the Dungeon with Professor Williams and some breakfast for Scorpius.

“Is he awake?” Mr. Malfoy asked.

“Yes, I think so, just give a knock.”

Draco and Williams continued on to the room, and found Scorpius awake there.

“Dad… Professor Williams… what are you doing here?”

Draco smiled at his son, “They didn’t tell you? I’ve been recruited to bring you your meals.” He was trying to keep things light. He passed Scorpius his breakfast which was his favorite, soft boiled egg with toast soldiers.

“Professor Williams” Draco motioned to Williams who had parked himself by the door “and your Headmistress sent an owl. They’re a bit concerned about everything that’s gone on… “ He put a hand up to Scorpius’ face and then gently pushed his fringe away from his forehead. “I know that it’s not easy being a Malfoy… that we have some pretty nasty history… and that people have said awful things. But you must know Scorpius, that you are so important, and good, Scorpius, you are good. That doesn’t mean that you’re always going to be perfect. I don’t expect that…” he tilted his head in thought, “Although I wouldn’t mind an attempt at nearly perfect… but perfect or not, I love you, and we’re all going to love you. Okay?”

Scorpius nodded his head. He had been feeling better, but seeing his dad really did make a difference. Sometimes it was just good to know that your dad was there, in your corner.

“Okay, then.” He put Scorpius’ breakfast tray aside and pulled him into a hug. His dad was not the hugging type, but since Albus started hugging Scorpius, Scorpius started hugging his dad… and Draco was learning. “If you don’t want to tell me about things, that’s okay, but please always talk to someone. You can talk with Albus, and you can talk with Professor Williams, or anyone, okay?”

Scorpius hugged his dad a little tighter and nodded again. “I’m glad you came.”

“Me, too.” Then he released and patted Scorpius on the back, which was more of a typical Draco move, and headed out to the door, “I’ll see you in a few weeks. We’re getting everything ready at the Manor for Christmas, and don’t forget about inviting your friends for New Year.”

Scorpius perked up at that. Ever since his mom died his dad made an extra effort to continue their holiday celebrations in her honor, and they seemed to grow a bit each year.

He looked up at his dad again, now standing in the hallway with Professor Williams who was rubbing him on the shoulder. That seemed a little friendly, maybe. Did they know each other? Then his dad turned and waved goodbye.

\-----------

At lunch on Sunday Albus saw Jamie and decided he wanted to say something to him. He wasn’t really sure where things stood between them since the blow-up on Thursday night, but there was something on his mind that he needed to put out there. So, he was going to have to dive in.

“Hey, do you have a moment?” Albus asked.

Jamie looked at him a little warily, but nodded.

Albus sat down next to him, “Look, I don’t know what your intentions are for Scorpius,” _Okay, that was kind of weird_ , Albus thought to himself, and he saw Jamie kind of biting his lip to subdue a smirk or a smile, “but anyway… Scorpius’ birthday is coming up, and I’d really like for this year to be a good one. So, if you need to clear the air with him, or whatever, please do it. I don’t think it’s a good idea to let this… whatever… drag on.”

Jamie looked at him, “That it?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s it….” Then Albus asked, “are we okay?”

“I think so. I think we will be.”

“Okay.” Then he gave the table a little thump and got up to go sit with his friends.

\-------------

By Monday night Jamie had resolved to go find Scorpius. He tried the Dungeon first, but someone said they thought they saw him dragging his telescope around… so, maybe he was in the astronomy tower. A few minutes later Jamie found him, standing in the cool air and looking through the lens up at the stars.

The sky was incredibly clear that night, the stars were just spread out overhead like diamonds. Jamie could have stood there watching Scorpius silently gazing into the sky for a long time, but he was there to talk. So, he moved a little and Scorpius turned.

“Oh, hi.” He said.

Jamie was ridiculously nervous - never before in his life level nervous. “Hi. Um… I came to apologize.”

“Oh… oh… you don’t really have to.”

“Of course I do. I behaved like a prat. The dance, and Dan, and just everything. I’ve been doing that for the better part of two months, and you deserve an apology.”

“Okay, apology accepted…” then he said, “but, I’m sorry, too.”

“For what?” Jamie asked

“For hurting you, to start.”

“You didn’t hurt me, not really… and we were boxing, right?” Jamie looked at Scorpius, trying to get him to see.

“Okay…. I just wanted to apologize.”

Then they were silent for a little while, and Scorpius new he needed to take the next step

“Carlos and I aren’t … anymore.”

“Oh, I…. Did I mess that up for you…?” Jamie asked.

“No, it wasn’t you…. We just weren’t really…”

Then they were silent again. Neither of them really knowing what to say next.

So, Jamie tried for a diversion. “What were you looking at?”

“Just constellations. Looking at the stars relaxes me…… Yours is up there.”

“Mine?”

“Yeah, well, Sirius…. your middle name. The dog star, It’s up there, just down from Orion’s belt” Scorpius turned to look at Jamie, “Do you want to look?”

He backed away from the telescope and made room for Jamie to look through the viewfinder, “Do you see it?” He asked, “Just look at the belt and then look down for the next really bright star.”

“I see it.”

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? So bright. It’s bigger and brighter than our sun, you know.”

Jamie turned to look at Scorpius, “Where’s yours?-- Scorpius”

“Mine’s not up there. Scorpius rises during the day at this time of year. It moves into the sun in a few days.” He paused… “Do you know the story about Orion and the scorpion?”

“No.”

“Well, Orion was a great hunter, and he boasted he could kill anything. So the gods sent the Scorpion to challenge him, and they fought, and Orion lost. Of course Zeus was impressed with his bravado, so he put Orion in the heavens, but opposite from Scorpius. Now, when Orion is up there hunting in the winter Scorpius only comes out in the day. Then, Orion is gone when Scorpius rises in the night sky.”

Scorpius paused, thinking, then continued, “They fought and now they’re always apart. I don’t think we’re fighting, but it feels like we are. I liked it better when it felt like we were friends. I don’t want to feel like this with you.”

“I don’t either.” Jamie wondered how it was that Scorpius could know how things were… just know it.

Then Scorpius asked, “Are you sorry you kissed me?”

“No, I’m definitely not.” Jamie looked at Scorpius, standing there under the stars. His eyes were silvery blue. They were perfect, and he brought his hand to Scorpius’ face, his thumb tracing the edge of Scorpius’ jaw. He was going to kiss him again, and he really wanted to remember it perfectly this time. For it to be exactly the way it should be.

Then he leaned forward and kissed Scorpius. His lips were a little cold from the outdoors, but they warmed quickly as their kiss deepened, opening their lips and finding each other, matching their tempo. This was right. Just right.

Scorpius through his heart might stop, his heartbeat felt so slow and heavy as he just dissolved into Jamie. He reached up and wound one of his hands behind Jamie’s neck and wrapped the other behind his shoulder. Jamie pulled him in close, holding him tight around his waist. Scorpius was filled with an incredible lightness. He felt he might lift off into the sky if Jamie wasn’t there holding on to him.

Jamie pulled back a little and felt Scorpius’ lips curling into a goofy, wide smile. Jamie felt a smile growing on his own face, too. “What is it?” he asked Scorpius.

“I’m just happy, really happy.”

“Me, too….” Then Jamie threw back his head and laughed, “Oh, Merlin, this feels good!”

Then his smile widened even more, and his eyes crinkled up, and Scorpius realized how long it had been since he’d seen Jamie smile like that. Jamie pulled them close together again, so close their noses were almost touching. He whispered “Scorpius,” and this time it sounded a like a promise.

\------------

Jamie kissed him on his cheeks, his nose, his eyes, his neck, his ears, his eyebrows, his fingers and anywhere he could find that wasn’t covered up, again and again, and Scorpius kissed him back, not wanting to leave even one part of Jamie untouched. It was as if he thought he could cement his happiness by covering Jamie with kisses. It was perfect. Jamie was warm and sweet, and his tongue danced with Scorpius’ back and forth, in his mouth and in Scorpius’. Eventually, they parted, and Scorpius looked at Jamie, thinking about the days ahead.

“Oh, we’re celebrating my birthday next weekend. Do you want to come?” He asked.

Jamie smiled and then his face made an apologetic and adorable cringe, like a little boy who’d been caught with his hand in the biscuit tin. “I know this is probably no way for us to start out, but there’s something I need to tell you about …”

Then Scorpius knew that the part of his life that involved Jamie Potter had really begun.

_This was going to be fun._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well - we're off to the races! Now that our characters are in place, future stories will follow our friends into some fun adventures. After all, Christmas Holidays are just around the corner...

**Author's Note:**

> There will be cannon deviations, but this isn’t an AU.
> 
> And - thanks in advance for any comments and/or ideas. I love feedback/comments.


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